Next in Line
by mattTheWriter072
Summary: Forty years after the Bucket family moved into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, Charlie realizes that he cannot go on forever. He and Willy Wonka decide to release not five, but seven Golden Tickets in an attempt to find a new heir, but will the two chocolatiers manage to find a suitable candidate? (Set after the 2005 movie, and features all-new ticket winners)
1. A Dire Situation

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory franchise or any characters associated with the franchise. All rights belong to Roald Dahl, Tim Burton, and Warner Bros. Pictures. This is not my intellectual property, and no financial gain is made from this nor will be sought. This is purely for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 1 - A Dire Situation

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I was supposed to start this story after finishing "Roy and the Chocolate Factory", but I'll have to wait until I have enough time to watch the whole movie uninterrupted in order to finish that one. Since I really don't want to keep you all waiting for weeks on end, I decided that it would be time for me to begin this one, and I can't wait to bring my ideas for this story to life. I'll publish the next chapter of "Roy and the Chocolate Factory" soon, but after that I'm taking a break so that I can focus on this story. Let's begin.**

 **(Note: credit goes to Sonny April for influencing my ideas for chapters 1 and 2.)**

There is a fact of life that is completely true and unavoidable: people get older with each passing second. Believe it or not, that even happens to CEOs who run major companies. The days, months, years, and decades add up, and before long, the person needs to hand over his or her business to someone else in order to keep it running once he or she passes. Little did a certain chocolatier know that he would be in this position as well.

Charlie Bucket was just twelve years old when he and his family moved into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Of course, it wasn't any ordinary chocolate factory. It was by far the world's largest and most unique chocolate factory, being over fifty times as big as any other.

It all started back in 2005, when Willy Wonka sent out five Golden Tickets hidden in five of his ordinary Wonka Bars. The Golden Tickets were an invitation from Mr. Wonka to come to the factory for a tour, and the person who behaved the best would become the heir to his factory. A worldwide frenzy followed, and in the end, four of the tickets were found by horrible brats, named Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, and Mike Teavee. The last one was found by an unlikely winner: a kind-hearted, compassionate boy named Charlie Bucket, whose family lived in extreme poverty during his childhood.

On February 1, 2005, the four brats and their parents, along with Charlie and his grandpa Joe, showed up outside the gates of the world-famous chocolate factory. During the tour, the four brats were eliminated from the factory until only Charlie remained, and he became the heir of the Wonka Candy Company. They do say that what goes around comes around, and Charlie, now fifty-three years old, was about to find out for himself what this phrase meant.

The year is 2045. Despite the fact that he was eighty-two years old, Willy Wonka was very much alive and well, and he and Charlie have been running the factory together for the past forty years. The candies that were produced in the factory since the Buckets moved in were better than ever before. However, Charlie's mood began to change one day, and for the worse.

Mr. Wonka and Charlie were producing a top-secret candy recipe in the Inventing Room. While they poured a few different ingredients into a small mixer, Charlie turned towards his idol with a worried look on his face.

"Mr. Wonka," Charlie said nervously, "there's something I really need to tell you."

"What's wrong, Charlie?" Mr. Wonka asked with concern. "Feel free to tell the truth. I know you can."

"Well," Charlie quietly responded, "I don't want you to become too worried, but yesterday, as I was combing my hair, a single strand of hair fell out, and it was silver. I'm sure you recall a similar situation that happened to you."

"I... I sure do, Charlie," Mr. Wonka whispered. "It's happening all over again. I hope that you won't do what I think you'll do."

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I must do what you won't want me to do," Charlie told him. "We must find a new heir who will replace both of us when the time comes."

Mr. Wonka's jaw dropped in disbelief, and his face became as pale as fresh snow. "N-no, Charlie! We can't be at this point already!"

"Really, Mr. Wonka," Charlie told him, "it's for the better. We must do this if you want the Wonka Candy Company to continue running as it is. Do you understand?"

"Y-you're right, Charlie," he replied while nodding, "but why now? It doesn't feel like you've been here for forty years!"

"I know," Charlie said, shedding a single tear. "The time does fly by fast, but the harsh reality is that we're both getting older, and someone has to take our place eventually. We can't go on forever."

Mr. Wonka was at a complete loss for words. He sighed sadly as he peered into the mixer, watching as the ingredients swirled around and around. Charlie did the same, and another small, salty teardrop fell out of his eye into the mixer. That tiny teardrop began to mingle with the rest of the ingredients, and the sadness that Charlie felt would become part of a brand-new candy recipe. Something had to be done about this situation.

"I can't believe it," Mr. Wonka mumbled to himself. "We need a new heir _already_. What do we do now?"


	2. Wonka's Plan

Chapter 2 - Wonka's Plan

"I can't believe that Charlie and I have already reached this point in our lives," Mr. Wonka told his psychiatrist Oompa Loompa. He was sitting on a red velvet couch in the Therapy Hall. "As you'll remember, forty years ago, I was looking for an heir to the factory, and Charlie won the position. Now, all of a sudden, he told me that we need an heir to replace _both_ of us, and I honestly can't believe that our lives are going by that quickly. Then again, I was looking for an heir at forty-two years old, and Charlie is fifty-three, so Charlie is eleven years older than I was in that situation. Charlie and I... we really need to find someone, a person who is just as good as Charlie, if not maybe even a tad better. The problem is that I have no clue how to find one person to become our heir." The Oompa Loompa was writing down notes as the chocolatier recited his internal struggles.

Suddenly, Mr. Wonka gasped and rose up from the couch. "That's it! I, along with Charlie, shall host _another_ Golden Ticket contest! We should be able to find the perfect heir that way. You're very good!" The Oompa Loompa removed his glasses and slowly nodded in agreement.

An hour later, Mr. Wonka found Charlie at the entrance to the Golden Chocolate Eggs Room.

"There you are!" he said excitedly just as Charlie left the room and closed the door. "I just spoke with my psychiatrist, and I have a great idea in mind for what we should do!"

"Mr. Wonka," Charlie said with a smile, "I'm very glad to see that your mood has changed. What is your plan?"

"Well, think about it. How did _you_ become my heir?" Mr. Wonka asked as he crossed his arms.

"You sent out five Golden Tickets to invite the winners to a tour of the factory," Charlie replied.

"Exactly!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed. "We could host the contest together, and give the children a tour of our factory, just like what I did before. However, just to be extra sure that we'll find the ideal heir, I think that we should send out _seven_ Golden Tickets this time, rather than five. It won't hurt to do so, just in case there are more rotten brats than before. Can you imagine all five winners being rotten? I sure don't want to. That's why we should send out seven tickets, so that we could have two more chances at finding the ideal winner in case the first five or six happen to be naughty children."

"But Mr. Wonka, what if they _all_ turn out to be unsatisfactory?" Charlie asked wth concern. "Will it truly be worth the effort?"

Mr. Wonka smiled at him and said, "Only time will tell."

Later that night, Charlie and Mr. Wonka pounded molten gold into thin sheets using iron hammers and anvils in the factory's metalworking shop. The gold sheets were sent through a printer which printed the words: "GOLDEN TICKET" onto one side, and the instructions regarding the tour on the other. After that, the two chocolatiers apprehensively placed the Golden Tickets on top of seven ordinary Wonka Bars, and they watched as the chocolate bars moved down the conveyor belt towards the packaging department.

Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket left the room without saying another word. The spider-like machinery did the rest of the work, pouncing on each Wonka Bar as if it were a tasty morsel waiting to be devoured. With two smooth motions, the spiders' legs wrapped the inner foil around the Wonka Bars (regardless of whether or not they contained Golden Tickets) before tackling the outer paper. From there on, the bars advanced toward a row of slides, which emptied the chocolates into various shipping containers. The containers were sealed before they were addressed and loaded into any one of several bright, red trucks, which transported their loads to the airport to be sent to anywhere in the world. Where would these tickets be found? Who would find them? Only time will tell...

 **Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed reading the first two chapters of "Next in Line", even though they were rather short. Feel free to review and share your thoughts and opinions, and most importantly, stay tuned for the next chapter, when the first of seven ticket winners will be revealed! :)**


	3. The First Ticket Winner

Chapter 3 - The First Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hey everyone! I don't think I really have much to say right now, so I hope you'll enjoy reading about the first person who found one of the seven Golden Tickets! Now, it's time for me to respond to your reviews:**

 **Linkwonka88, I'm glad you like it so far. I will be resuming "Roy and the Chocolate Factory" on December 10.**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, it is indeed scary to know how fast the time goes. I'm only 21 and I'm already starting to feel that way! You'll find out who the first ticket winner is shortly.**

 **Sonny April (who had a discussion with me via PM), I put a note in the first chapter to give you credit for where I got the idea from. I apologize that I forgot to include it when the story was first published, as well as any confusion that may have resulted over this matter. Now, on with the story!**

Four days had passed since Willy and Charlie sent out the Golden Tickets, and just like before, nearly everyone wanted to have a chance to visit Wonka's factory. Billions of people from nearly every country in the world raided their local candy shops, both figuratively and literally, and Wonka Bars were disappearing from the shelves faster than they could possibly be restocked. Online retailers were in an even worse position: the amount of Internet traffic was so large that their servers stopped working for three entire days before the administrators finally managed to reboot them.

Charlie and Mr. Wonka seemed to be glued to the TV while all of this was going on, and the suspense was killing them. Suddenly, a breaking-news alert appeared on the screen.

"Finally!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed in delight. "I hope this is the news that we've been waiting for!"

"Let's just wait and see," Charlie said. "It could be something else. There is plenty of breaking news going on around the world these days, for better and for worse. Hopefully this time it will be for the better."

"And now, this is the moment we've all been waiting for," the newscaster proudly announced. "The first of Wonka's seven Golden Tickets has been found in Rome, Italy, by a boy called Antonio Ricci."

Mr. Wonka sighed in relief. "No Gloops this time! Thank goodness!"

The interview was being held on the tarmac at a military base in Rome, Italy. Fighter jets were taking off and landing on the tarmac about every thirty seconds, and tiny drones were swarming all around like flies as a group of children piloted them through the air using wireless controllers.

The lucky winner, named Antonio Ricci, was a well-built twelve-year-old boy who had spiky blond hair and olive-green eyes. He wore a pair of aviator goggles on his head, and he was dressed in a navy-blue wingsuit. He held his Golden Ticket in the air with his left hand. In his other hand, he clutched three half-eaten Wonka Bars. Antonio's father, who stood by the wing of a sleek fighter jet, looked identical to his son except that he was wearing an anti-g suit. A large flight helmet was tucked underneath his left arm.

"This is truly a momentous occasion," the announcer shouted over the loud, whining noise from the fighter jets' engines. "A Golden Ticket found in Rome, of all places. The empire still reigns supreme. Now, Antonio, tell us about yourself, please!"

"Greetings, everyone!" Antonio proudly shouted into the microphone with a strong Italian accent. "As you all know, I'm proud and delighted to be the first Golden Ticket winner. My passion is skydiving, and it's pretty much all I think about. Even when I was little, I was jumping from the rooftops of four-story buildings! Don't worry, I had a parachute as well as a soft landing pad. Nowadays, I jump out of specially designed airplanes from ten thousand feet in the air."

"That's amazing!" the reporter exclaimed. "Now, tell us about how you found your Golden Ticket!"

"Well," Antonio replied, "as you can see by the Wonka Bars I'm holding in my hand, I absolutely love chocolate, although I prefer dark chocolate over milk or white chocolate, since it's the healthier choice. I have a very fast metabolism, so I need to eat a lot in order to be in tip-top shape. When I said a lot, I really mean _a lot_. I could happily eat one of those enormous burgers that some restaurants offer up as a challenge, and I won't even gain so much as a pound. In regards to the ticket, I guess I just got lucky, because half an hour ago, I was grabbing a treat for myself, and the Wonka Bar that I opened just so happened to contain the first Golden Ticket!"

"Well, he doesn't seem too bad," Charlie said. "I think he'd be a good choice for our heir. He seems quite friendly, he loves your candy—"

"But Antonio said that all he thinks about is skydiving," Mr. Wonka interrupted. "How on earth could we convince him to run a company? If he loves skydiving so much, he would just run straight for my waterfall." Suddenly, an idea came to him and he dramatically gasped. "The waterfall! That's it!"

"Are you really sure about this?" Charlie asked. "We don't want him to be harmed all that much."

"Well, if he does decide to jump off of the waterfall, it's his own problem, not ours," Mr. Wonka said. "I made sure to include a statement on the Golden Tickets that said that we shall not be held accountable for any wrongdoings that might happen during the tour. You know, all that legal mumbo jumbo, blah, blah, blah."

"But couldn't Antonio at least have a chance?" Charlie pleaded. "He really doesn't seem all that bad, Mr. Wonka."

"I suppose he could," Willy replied, "but I think that we should wait until after all seven tickets have been found to arrive at any sort of conclusion. What if there's someone more suitable for running the factory than him? Besides, it's been a while since the Oompa Loompas had a chance to perform in front of other people, and I know they'd be very happy to do so."

Charlie sighed loudly. "All right. Just as long as he'll truly be okay by the end of the tour, we'll do this."

Mr. Wonka laid a gloved hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Look at me," he whispered, and Charlie turned towards him. "No one was harmed during the previous tour, either. I mean, they eventually made full recoveries. Augustus was covered in fudge, Violet came out a little more flexible, Veruca was covered from head to toe in garbage, and while Mike was stretched out to ten feet tall, he did shrink back down to his normal height within a week. At least, I'm sure he did. There's nothing to worry about."

"I suppose I'll take your word for it," Charlie responded with a nervous smile just before Mr. Wonka rose up from his seat and walked towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"To the Music Conservatory, of course," Mr. Wonka said, glancing over his shoulder at Charlie. "Where else would I be going?"

Charlie laughed in response just before Mr. Wonka was about to leave the room. "Fair enough. We just have to hope that the next winner won't be all that bad, either."

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading about the first ticket winner. There are six more to go, so stay tuned for the next one! :)**


	4. The Second Ticket Winner

Chapter 4 - The Second Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hello, readers! I'm back with the fourth chapter, where the second ticket winner will be revealed! Time for me to respond to your reviews:**

 **Sonny April, that's exactly why I wanted the first ticket winner to be from Rome! I had that idea in mind from the very beginning. As for whether or not the other ticket winners will be awful brats, just keep reading to find out!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I already resolved this issue with Sonny April. You'll find out soon whether or not the next few winners will be as innocent as Antonio.**

 **Tessa, you'll find out very soon!**

 **Softkitty55, I'm very glad you're enjoying it so far. Now, on with the story!**

The next day, the news about Antonio had spread like wildfire throughout the entire factory. Even though the air was filled with excitement and suspense, Willy Wonka was still nervous that someone similar to Veruca might be the next one to find a Golden Ticket. He didn't necessarily believe in karma, but coincidences can and do happen. He and Charlie were about to find out for themselves once the news came in about the second lucky child.

"We now have an update on Willy Wonka's worldwide contest," the newscaster announced. "The second Golden Ticket has been found."

"Please don't worry, Mr. Wonka," Charlie told him as they sat in front of the TV. "Who knows, what if the second one isn't so bad, either?"

"It was only yesterday when Antonio Ricci found the first Golden Ticket," the newscaster continued, "and the wait for the second ticket is now officially over. It has been found by a young girl named Yuna Sayuki from Tokyo, Japan."

"Yuna, hm? That's a nice name," Mr. Wonka said with a smile. "It's a much more appealing name than Veruca, that's for sure!"

"Her name reminds me of one of the Final Fantasy games for some reason," Charlie remarked. "Let's see what this girl is like. Hopefully she won't be too bad."

The interview was being held in a large house that was made almost entirely out of glass. The lucky winner stood with both of her parents in front of a highly-polished white glass wall, which reflected the blinding flashes from the cameras like a mirror.

Yuna had shoulder-length, ash-brown hair, violet eyes, and a radiant smile. She wore a bright-red kimono with colorful floral patterns along with a similarly-patterned obi. She could have easily stepped out of the cover of a fashion magazine. Her mother wore a similar kimono, and her father was dressed in an upper-class business suit.

"Yuna," a reporter asked, "can you please tell us about yourself?"

"Well," Yuna spoke quietly, "I am kind of shy, but since I'm here, I'll introduce myself. I'm Yuna Sayuki, and I'm ten years old. My parents bought about five-thousand Wonka Bars for me, and I just sat and unwrapped every one by myself until I managed to find one with a Golden Ticket inside."

"She seems a little too much like Veruca for me to be comfortable with," Mr. Wonka mumbled. "At least she did the work of finding her ticket by herself."

"Don't make any decisions yet," Charlie warned. "We still don't know much about her."

"What did you do with all of that chocolate?" another reporter asked.

"I ate a few candy bars," Yuna replied, "but I put the rest of them away in the freezer so that they'd stay fresh. I plan on eating a few more, but I will give the rest of them away to the poor people who will want them even more than I do. One other thing: I really want to become a model when I grow up. My main desire is to continue to look youthful when I'm older. I know that I'm young, but I can't stand the thought of looking like my grandma when I'm older. She's got tons of wrinkles on her face, and I'll do anything I can to look and feel young throughout my entire life."

"She honestly doesn't seem all that bad, either," Charlie said as Yuna held up her Golden Ticket for everyone to see. "She's giving away her chocolates to those in need. I really hope that this is a trend that will continue."

"I hope so, too," Mr. Wonka replied, "but I'm noticing another worrying trend at the same time. Antonio is from Rome, and I learned not long ago that the Roman Empire's very first emperor was named Augustus. Yuna's parents bought about five-thousand Wonka Bars, which somewhat reminds me of Veruca. The next winner had better not resemble Violet in any way, or I'm going to think about cancelling our contest."

"No!" Charlie cried. "You're taking this too far! I understand that you don't want any more people like Augustus, Veruca, Violet, and Mike, but please, at least let them have a chance. Even if the next two winners do end up resembling Violet and Mike in any way, remember that there are still three more tickets after that! That's why you came up with this plan in the first place. Seriously, please don't count everyone out just yet. Our ideal heir could very well be among them!"

"You're right, Charlie," Mr. Wonka whispered. "If I had given up on the first four tickets last time, I would never have found you."

"I know that Violet wasn't exactly up to snuff," Charlie continued, "but she was indeed a winner, or so she said. She temporarily laid off her gum to buy Wonka Bars until she found her ticket. It's called dedication and perseverance, Mr. Wonka. Think about everything you struggled through over the years. This contest is really nothing to worry about in the bigger scheme of things. Please, don't give up hope."

"Very well," Mr. Wonka groaned as he stood up from his chair and began walking towards the door. "Still, though, I don't exactly think Yuna would be the best choice for our heir. I'm heading off to the Music Conservatory now to write a song for her. See ya!"

"Wait!" Charlie called out, but Mr. Wonka had already left the room. "Well, do whatever you want, I guess. If the Oompa Loompas would appreciate your idea, then so be it."

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading about Yuna! In case any of you are wondering, I did name her after the character from Final Fantasy X, which is my favorite video game of all time.**

 **One more thing: I already wrote detailed character profiles for the remaining ticket winners, but just for fun, I'd like you all to try guessing what the upcoming winners will be like! You'll find out whether or not your answers are correct as I publish the next several chapters. Stay tuned! :)**


	5. The Third Ticket Winner

Chapter 5 - The Third Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! It's time to reveal the third lucky winner, but before I get to that, I must respond to your reviews!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, Yuna is indeed the opposite of Veruca, and that was my intention all along. :)**

 **Sonny April, you'll find out once all of the winners are revealed. And you're right, they could be anything!**

 **Tessa, I'm glad you enjoyed reading about Yuna, too. As for the other winners, you will find out soon.**

 **Turrislucidus, you definitely have a valid point as to what Antonio's true flaw is, but, no offense intended, I'm not so sure about your idea. First off, he'd have to open the elevator doors while it is moving (and I'm sure that there are safety mechanisms in place to prevent that). If not that, he'd somehow have to break through the thick glass in order to get out. And as for who wrote the songs...you do have a valid point there as well, but somehow I've always thought that Mr. Wonka wrote them. Strangely enough, my other story, "Where All the Bad Nuts Go", seems to contradict those thoughts since Veruca said that the Oompa Loompas wrote the songs, rather than Willy. Now, on with the** **story!**

Five days later, Charlie and Mr. Wonka received the news of the third Golden Ticket, and this time, it was found in the United States.

"Good morning!" the news anchor said cheerfully. "We're starting the day early with some more breaking news. The third Golden Ticket has been found at approximately 5:30 a.m. in Phoenix, Arizona! Now that's what I would call a motivated winner for someone to go out and buy a Wonka Bar this early in the morning!"

As soon as Mr. Wonka heard "motivated winner", dreadful thoughts of Violet Beauregarde immediately began racing through his mind.

"The lucky winner's name is Mindy Bell," the news anchor continued, "and we're now reporting live from the Bell residence in Phoenix, Arizona."

The interview took place in a modest-sized two-story house, and it was still dark outside. The living room was lined with glass shelves that displayed hundreds and hundreds of trophies and awards.

"N-no!" Mr. Wonka cried, throwing his arms up. "This reminds me too much of Violet, and not in a good way!"

"Don't, Mr. Wonka!" Charlie shouted. "We haven't seen her yet, so please don't judge her at this point."

The camera slowly panned across the room until it focused on an eleven-year-old girl with long, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing purple pajamas with fuzzy pink rabbit slippers, and she proudly held her Golden Ticket in front of her with her long, outstretched arms. Her smile was dazzling, but what really unnerved Mr. Wonka was that her left cheek seemed to be bulging. Obviously, _something_ had to be inside there.

Her mother stood beside her, and her brown hair was done up in an elaborate bun. She at least took the time to dress for the special occasion, wearing a black silk dress, high-heeled shoes, and thin, black tights. She wore a long, silver-beaded designer necklace that went halfway down her chest, as well as multiple silver rings on each hand.

"These are just some of the five-hundred and forty-two trophies and medals that my beautiful daughter has won," Mindy's mother said proudly. "Tell the world about yourself, Mindy."

"As you already know, my name is Mindy," the lucky winner said with a projective voice. "Mindy Bell, to be exact. For the most part, I'm a champion at gymnastics, but that's not all. See how my cheek is bulging? Hold on a sec." She opened her mouth, reached into it with her hand, and pulled out a bright-red Everlasting Gobstopper. "I'm the Guinness World Record holder for the most number of years sucking on a single Everlasting Gobstopper. They truly _are_ everlasting. This Gobstopper right here, I've been working on for nine years solid! That's a record."

"YOU ARE KIDDING ME!" Mr. Wonka screamed. "She's even worse than Violet was! I was hoping that all of our winners would be kind souls like Antonio and Yuna, but there's no way I'm _ever_ giving this one my factory! Don't you have any idea as to how unsanitary that is? She's been sucking on that one Gobstopper for _nine freaking years!_ "

"Well, she could be washing it every night," Charlie said, but this only earned him a glare from Mr. Wonka. "At least it goes to prove that they truly are everlasting."

"And those trophies," a reporter asked, "where did you get them from?"

"Five-hundred and forty-one of my trophies are from all of the gymnastics events I've taken part in," Mindy replied. "The remaining award is from when I earned my Guinness World Record for sucking on an Everlasting Gobstopper." She led everyone into the dining room, where a Guinness World Record certificate was displayed in an elaborate frame. "I won the official certificate about two months ago, and I'm so proud of it."

"I could almost say I've had enough of this," Mr. Wonka seethed. "The third winner is a total brat this time!" Without looking back at Charlie, he dashed out of the room towards the Music Conservatory, leaving Charlie alone to internalize what had just happened.

 **Author's note: I apologize that this chapter was a shorter one. Stay tuned for the fourth ticket winner!**


	6. The Fourth Ticket Winner

Chapter 6 - The Fourth Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I'm back with a new chapter, and of course, the fourth Golden Ticket winner will soon be revealed. Time to respond to your reviews:**

 **Sonny April, dragonserpent18, and XXCandyLoverXX, you'll find out about their true personalities during the tour.**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you're enjoying my story, and that you liked reading about Antonio and Mindy. You'll find out who the next winner is shortly, and there are still three more after that. Will one of them be like Charlie? Only I know.**

 **dragonserpent18, unfortunately, the previous ticket winners will not make any formal appearances. Sorry about that.**

 **Linkwonka88, I'm glad you enjoyed reading about Yuna. Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of FPS games, except for BioShock (which is AWESOME if you haven't played it). You'll find out who the next winner is very soon!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, you'll find out who the next winner is very soon.**

 **TheIndividualist, I'm glad you're enjoying my story, and I can't wait to read yours once you publish it! Now, on with the story!**

The following morning, the two chocolatiers tuned in to the news only to find out that the fourth Golden Ticket had been found.

"It was only a day ago when Mindy Bell found the third ticket," the news anchor announced. "The fourth Golden Ticket has been found in Boston, Massachusetts, by a young boy named Daniel Sparkman."

"He'd better not resemble Mike Teavee in any way," Mr. Wonka mumbled. "If he does, I'm going to scream."

"Please," Charlie said to him. "He might not be so bad. That's always a possibility."

The interview was being held in a large building where a video game tournament was taking place. The scene inside was chaotic. There were over two-thousand participants in the tournament, and each one was either sitting or standing in front of a large screen, depending on which game was being played. About half of the news reporters there were keeping track of the tournament's progress, their cameras watching each participant's every move.

The remaining reporters were gathering around a raised podium, where a twelve-year-old boy proudly stood. He had extremely short brown hair and brown eyes, and he was wearing a plain black T-shirt with faded blue jeans. He wore black leather shoes that were fastened with large, silver buckles. In one hand, he held a small silver trophy, and in his other hand was the fourth Golden Ticket.

"So, Daniel, apparently you won two things today," a reporter said. "Am I correct?"

"You most certainly are," Daniel Sparkman answered with a smile. "This trophy I have here was quite difficult to earn. You see, I was actually not playing a video game in this tournament. Instead, I was programming one from scratch, along with forty other contestants. My game is a first-person shooter, and the time it took me from writing the first line of code to having a fully-working, three-dimensional game was just three hours. I beat everyone here by a long shot. The second-best programmer here is just beginning to test her game."

"And what game did she design?" another reporter asked.

"The exact same one that I made," Daniel said. "She still has a _long_ way to go before hers is fully finished, since there are tons of bugs. It will take her at least two more hours at the rate she's going."

"One more question: how did you find your Golden Ticket?" the same reporter asked.

"Well," Daniel replied with a cheeky grin, "I found it by hacking into one of the factory's main servers. With the data that I obtained, I tracked the manufacturing dates, offset by weather, and the derivative of the Nikkei Index. Dead easy. Anyone with so much as a brain can do it."

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOO!" Mr. Wonka screamed angrily, leaping out of his seat and wringing his hands. "How could this possibly happen? Our servers are running a highly-customized version of Linux that is supposed to be impenetrable, and Daniel _still_ managed to crack the system to get his ticket! You know what, I was right. He's just like Mike Teavee. I've got to do something about this brat right now!"

"Willy, please!" Charlie cried, but Mr. Wonka ignored him as he turned around and stormed his way to the Music Conservatory to begin composing Daniel's song. "While he's in the Music Conservatory," Charlie said to himself, "I guess I'll go to the Server Room and tell the Oompa Loompas there what just happened. Hopefully they'll get the vulnerability patched so that no one hacks into our system ever again."

Charlie sighed as he sank back into his recliner and swiped two fingers across the touch-sensitive armrest, attempting to find a channel that was not broadcasting from Boston in any way or form. It was all to no avail.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading about Daniel! There are still three ticket winners remaining. Do you think the fifth one might resemble Charlie in any way? Stay tuned to find out! :)**


	7. The Fifth Ticket Winner

Chapter 7 - The Fifth Ticket Winner

 **Hello, everyone! I'm here with the seventh chapter of "Next in Line", and the fifth winner will be revealed soon. Without further ado, it's response time!**

 **Sonny April and XXCandyLoverXX, you'll find out what the next winner will be like very soon. As for Mr. Wonka's thoughts on Daniel, I'm sure that he secretly admired his programming prowess, but would you be impressed at all if someone hacked into a critical server which contained all of your important data?**

 **Linkwonka88, I'm glad you enjoyed reading about Daniel. I haven't tried The Last of Us, but I heard it's a really good game.**

 **Tessa, you'll find out who the fifth winner is right away, and you'll just have to wait and see what the last two will be like.**

 **TuxThePenguin91, I'm sure that one of Wonka's Oompa Loompas just created a custom Linux distribution. I think it would be called Wonka Linux or something like that. I'm a Linux user myself, even though macOS (formerly OS X) is my favorite platform. I mostly use Ubuntu and Linux Mint.**

 **TheIndividualist, I'm glad you enjoyed Daniel's chapter. Now, on with the story!**

"Just what have we gotten ourselves into?" Mr. Wonka moaned as he and Charlie watched the recap of the past four winners on the news. "I can't believe this is happening. Well, considering that these new children had at least one thing in common with the previous four brats, I'm sure that the fifth winner will be humble and kind, just like you, Charlie."

"And now, the fifth Golden Ticket has just been found, leaving only two to go," the news anchor announced as if on cue, and Mr. Wonka moved to the very edge of his seat as he stared intently at the TV. "The lucky winner is a girl named Jenna Adams from Birmingham, Alabama."

"Hopefully she'll be a kind one like Yuna," Charlie said. "Let's find out."

The interview took place inside a sprawling one-story mansion. The reporters were gathered in the foyer, which had a high ceiling and crystal chandeliers hanging from it.

The winner of the fifth Golden Ticket, Jenna Adams, had long red hair, sapphire eyes, and a very pale, almost ghostly, complexion. She was wearing a black T-shirt from a metal concert, along with skinny blue jeans and plain white socks. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a guitar pick hanging from it. She held her Golden Ticket in front of her, clutching onto it with her long, narrow fingers. She stood directly in front of the reporters to ensure that their cameras were getting the best possible view of both herself and the ticket.

Jenna's mother, who was seated in front of a highly-polished Steinway grand piano, also had long red hair and sapphire eyes. She was wearing an orange dress that was studded with tiny diamonds. Her father had short dark-brown hair and brown eyes, and he was wearing a shirt from the same concert that his daughter attended. He cradled a black seven-string Music Man guitar in his hands.

"Can you please tell us about yourself, Jenna?" one of the reporters asked.

"Well, I'm the fifth Golden Ticket winner, and I am twelve years old," Jenna replied with a crystal-clear voice. "As you can see, I was born into a family of musicians. My mother is a classical pianist and soprano vocalist, and she's also the keyboardist and lead singer in my father's progressive metal band, Wormhole Citadel. I'm in their band as well. I play the bass."

"She's such a good bassist," her father said as he held up his guitar for the cameras. "She handles all those time signature changes as easily as counting to ten. I'm sure this is obvious, but I'm Wormhole Citadel's guitarist. Jenna's older brother, who is not home from high school yet, is the secondary vocalist and drummer."

"That's amazing," one of the reporters commented. "It's always nice to see the whole family being involved in the music scene, especially as a band. Now, Jenna, can you tell us how you found your Golden Ticket?"

"Well, I don't necessarily care for chocolate or candy in general," Jenna told the reporters, "but I _have_ always been curious to see what Willy Wonka's factory was like inside. I spent about five-hundred dollars of my own money on Wonka Bars, and just an hour ago, I found myself a Golden Ticket. My father and brother ate most of the chocolates that I bought. I'm not saying I hate candy by any means. I'll have a candy or chocolate bar once a year on my birthday, but other than that, I could do without them. That's just me."

"Well, this time I'll admit that she doesn't seem too bad," Mr. Wonka said, "but why on earth would I give my factory to someone who doesn't like candy?"

"She will at least get what she wants," Charlie told him, "and that would be a tour of the factory. Remember, she said that she doesn't _totally_ dislike candy, so you should maybe consider her to be your heir. Plus, she's from a family of musicians. If she wins the factory, I bet her family would get along very well with the Oompa Loompas. Who knows, if any of the next two winners are as nice as Jenna, maybe we could have two heirs."

"Uh, I think that sort of defeats the purpose of this contest," Mr. Wonka said, frowning. "We're really just looking for a single heir to the factory."

"Okay, then how about we go along with an idea that I have in mind?" Charlie suggested. "After the tour ends, the winner will meet up with the other children, and we will re-evaluate each of them based on their own personalities instead of how and when they were eliminated. From there, we will make a formal decision as to who should become our heir."

"Hey, what a good idea!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed. "But still, there could be more to those kids than meets the eye. What if they turn out to be worse than they initially seem to be?"

"I think we should just wait and see how everything turns out during the tour," Charlie said. "There's no point in predicting the future just yet. There are still two more Golden Tickets out there."

Mr. Wonka stood up from his chair. "Well, even if Jenna turns out to be a nice kid after all, I'm still going to write a song about her for the Oompa Loompas. It would at least suit her, since she's a musician herself."

Charlie sighed as he got up from his chair to look directly at Mr. Wonka. "Very well," he said calmly just before Mr. Wonka turned to leave the room. "Let's just hope that Jenna really is as nice as she seems to be."

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! I actually based Jenna's looks and character on a girl who I had a crush on in high school. I'm a huge fan of Dream Theater, hence the genre of the Adams family's band (progressive metal), and Wormhole Citadel is actually a name that I am considering for a band if I ever decide to start one. Stay tuned for the next chapter! :)**


	8. The Sixth Ticket Winner

Chapter 8 - The Sixth Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hi, everyone! Sorry that I took longer than usual to write this chapter. Unfortunately, once the factory tour begins, the updates will be a tad less frequent. Don't worry, I will not abandon this story under any circumstances. Now, time to respond to your reviews:**

 **Softkitty55, I'm very glad you enjoyed reading about Jenna, and that you found it cute that I based her on my crush. You'll find out who won the last Golden Ticket in the next chapter. I'm also glad that you liked the name of their band.**

 **TheIndividualist, you'll find out whether the kids are truly as good as they seem during the factory tour.**

 **Sonny April, I answered the first part of your review via PM. You'll find out in Chapter 10, when the tour begins, how the kids will truly act, but there are still two winners who have yet to be revealed! As for your question at the end, you'll find out whether Willy and Charlie will actually follow through with that idea later. Who knows, they might change their mind, or they might not. Only I know!**

 **Linkwonka88, that's interesting how she reminds you of your crush. It's especially interesting how you thought your crush looked like Ron Weasley!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, you'll find out how nice (or not) the next winner is very shortly! That's awesome that you like Dream Theater, too. Now, on with the story! :)**

"There are only two more tickets left, and none of the winners so far seem to be suitable candidates for our next heir," Mr. Wonka lamented as he and Charlie watched the news three days after Jenna Adams found her ticket. "I mean, some of them are _almost_ good enough, like Yuna and Jenna, but I still have yet to find someone who is just as good as you."

"Mr. Wonka, I think you're setting the bar just a tad too high this time," Charlie told him. "I understand that you want someone just like me to eventually replace both of us. You knew all along that I would be the perfect heir since you first laid eyes on me, but the truth is, there's no such thing as perfection. You can get so close to perfection that the distance between you and it is microscopic, but you'll never actually get there. No one can."

"This is just in," the news anchor announced on the TV. "The sixth Golden Ticket has been found in Calgary, Alberta, by a ten-year-old boy named Tyler Smith."

"If this kid turns out to be rotten," Mr. Wonka mumbled, "then the next winner had _better_ be the one, otherwise I'll throw both my top hat and cane into the incinerator."

The interview took place in a two-story house that featured large glass windows, which stretched from the floor to the ceiling. There were loud explosions and blinding flashes of light coming from inside the house.

Inside, the living room was almost fully obscured by a cloud of green fog. Without warning, something detonated inside the room, and a series of thunderous explosions caused the walls and floor to vibrate, followed by maniacal laughter as a short, stout boy emerged from the green fog.

" _Please_ don't tell me that he's the sixth ticket winner," Mr. Wonka groaned.

To Mr. Wonka's dread, the boy who had set off the explosives was indeed Tyler Smith. He had short, blond hair and green eyes. He wore a red shirt with the words: "PRACTICAL JOKES ARE FUN AND GOOD FOR YOU" in gold letters, along with black jeans and red socks. In his left hand was the sixth Golden Ticket, and in his right hand were a bunch of tiny, pill-shaped capsules. He effortlessly crushed them in his fist, and they expelled a cloud of blue fog that spread throughout the entire room. The fog swirled and mingled with the green cloud that was just beginning to disperse.

Once all of the fog dissipated about twenty seconds later, Tyler grinned at the reporters, who all gaped at the scene in amazement and shock. "Did you guys enjoy that?" he asked.

Tyler's father, a tall, nearly bald man wearing a white collared shirt and a gray tie, glared at his son and folded his arms across his chest.

"My son," he said flatly, "is the class clown in his school. There's no doubt about that. He always gets into trouble by telling stupid jokes, putting thumbtacks on the teachers' chairs, crashing the school's computers, and setting off stink bombs during class. He's a little terror, that kid."

"It's what I like to do, Dad, so shut up!" Tyler shouted. "This is _my_ interview, not yours." Tyler tried to smile as innocently as possible for the reporters before continuing to speak. "My life revolves around practical jokes. I don't understand why grown-ups are usually so serious and boring compared to people like me."

"It's called maturity, son," Tyler's father told him, and the kid responded with a rude hand gesture. "I can't believe that _he_ , of all people, is going to Wonka's factory. He acquired his Golden Ticket at his school's cafeteria, when he decided to buy a Wonka Bar to have with his lunch. As soon as I found out that he won the ticket, I drove him home so that the reporters wouldn't invade the school. If I sound harsh in any way towards my son, it's because I'm much wiser than he is and I know better. I'm a professor at the University of Calgary, and I teach World Affairs. I try to raise my son as best I can, but he just doesn't listen to me, no matter what I do or try."

"I said SHUT UP, Dad!" Tyler screamed. "I wanted to share the story of how I got my Golden Ticket, but you _completely_ ruined it for me! I'm not forgiving you for this, you hear?"

"Aaaaagh! I can't believe this, honestly!" Mr. Wonka cried while pinching himself, as if this was just a bad dream that he could wake up from. "He is truly the most obnoxious, immature child I've ever seen, and I thought Veruca was bad enough! There is absolutely no way that he will become my heir. I won't allow it under any circumstances!"

"Remember, there's still one more ticket left," Charlie reassured him. "The last winner could be the one, just like I was."

"It had _better_ be the one," Mr. Wonka growled, "otherwise I'll have to surrender my factory to any one of seven rotten—"

"Whoa, whoa, hold it!" Charlie exclaimed as he stood up from his recliner. "Even if the next winner doesn't meet your expectations, remember that everyone still has opportunities to learn and grow. Tyler is just a kid, and that's what some kids like to do. However, his father could really use some parental advice since he explicitly said that he was wiser than his son and that he knew better. I don't like to blame people, so to speak, but I must blame Tyler's father for raising him the way he did. The parents are a child's biggest role model. Think about the talents that these kids have, and not about their flaws, okay?"

Mr. Wonka let out a loud sigh as he slowly rose from his seat. "Can't see how they would or wouldn't matter. The fact is, one of these seven children will eventually be running the entire factory. The thought of Tyler doing so is completely out of the question." With that, he hastily turned and left the room. He began storming his way to the Music Conservatory to compose a song for the sixth ticket winner, leaving Charlie alone in silence as the news anchor continued to cover the dreadful event. Charlie turned off the TV and sighed as he slumped back into his recliner, trying his hardest to not worry about what the seventh and final ticket winner might be like.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The final winner will be revealed next, and then the tour will begin! Stay tuned! :)**


	9. The Final Ticket Winner

Chapter 9 - The Final Ticket Winner

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I'm here with the ninth chapter, and the final ticket winner will be revealed shortly. After that, the tour will begin! Now, it's time for me to respond to your reviews!**

 **TheIndividualist, I'm glad you correctly guessed the sixth winner's name. You'll see who the final winner will be shortly!**

 **MrWonkyWonka, Tyler is indeed from Canada, and so am I! Just wait until you find out how he'll act during the tour!**

 **Linkwonka88, the update has arrived, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story!**

 **Softkitty55, I have to agree with your statement. Tyler does seem rather similar to the 1971 Violet in regards to his demeanor, except he's even worse! I'm glad you like Jenna and Antonio, and you'll find out later if anything will happen to them during the tour! I hope you're "loofing" forward to it as much as I am!**

 **agentdemigod, I'm glad you liked reading about the new kids. You'll be introduced to the final one very shortly. Just wondering: what did you mean by fan casting each kid? Sorry if I seem ignorant.**

 **Sonny April, Tyler is indeed a true brat, and I'm glad you enjoyed reading about him. As I said to nearly everyone else, you'll find out who the last ticket winner is very soon.**

 **dragonserpent18, I would agree to your comment, but I don't want to say anything else in case there are still people who haven't read "A Second Chance".**

 **JennaSwan42, you'll find out in the next chapter how Tyler will behave during the tour! Now, on with the story! :)**

Several long days had passed since Tyler found his Golden Ticket, meaning that the only thing Charlie and Mr. Wonka could do was to wait patiently for the news of the final winner.

Before long, the last day of August came around, and the tour was to be held on the first of September, which was the very next day. The news reporters were already busy setting up their equipment outside the factory gates in anticipation of the big day, when the seven Golden Ticket winners would be admitted into the factory at 10 a.m. sharp. Or would there only be six winners now? Would the Wonka Bar containing the seventh Golden Ticket just be hiding on a store shelf somewhere, never to be unwrapped until after the big day? Then again, there was still a tiny glimmer of hope that the elusive final ticket would be found just in time. It happened back in 2005, when Charlie Bucket found his ticket, and history has been known to repeat itself, as Mr. Wonka and Charlie were about to find out.

"This is just in," the news anchor announced on the TV. "The seventh and final Golden Ticket was found in Columbus, Ohio, by a boy named Christopher Davidson! He found it in the nick of time, because the tour of Wonka's factory will take place tomorrow, on the first of September. We're now going live to the home of the lucky winner."

"Haha," Mr. Wonka laughed. "His name is Christopher, and he's from Columbus! It reminds me of that explorer who was the first European to arrive in North America. At least that's what I think he did. Hopefully _this_ Christopher will become our heir!"

The interview was being held inside a small one-story house, in a suburban area of Columbus. The reporters were crammed inside the living room, and their cameras focused on a twelve-year-old boy who had spiky black hair, bright-blue eyes which shone with happiness, and a brilliant smile. He wore a white T-shirt with Wonka's signature "W" on the front, along with brown corduroys and white socks, which also featured Wonka's logo just above the toe. He proudly held his Golden Ticket above his head with both hands.

Christopher's mother had long, straight brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a black long-sleeve shirt, which was also emblazoned with Wonka's logo, along with skinny blue jeans and black socks. Christopher's father had spiky black hair and blue eyes, just like his son. His black T-shirt also featured Wonka's logo, and he also wore brown corduroys. He wore black socks over his feet. Around his neck was a necklace from which hung a silver pendant. Of course, it was also in the shape of Wonka's signature "W".

"Wow, I'm actually flattered by this, to be honest," Mr. Wonka whispered as he took a good look at the family. "They must really love my candy!"

"Hello, everybody," Christopher said as he subtly waved his right hand at the cameras. "My name is Christopher Davidson, but most people just call me Chris."

"Chris," one of the reporters spoke, "you're the seventh and final Golden Ticket winner in the whole world! Please, tell us all about yourself. You seem to be a big fan of the Wonka Candy Company."

"I'm a _huge_ fan of Willy Wonka's candies, yes," Chris replied. "I may be enjoying this moment right now, but I'm usually quite a shy person, except for when I'm with my family and my immediate circle of friends."

"My son is one of the kindest, brightest people you'll ever have the privilege to meet," Mr. Davidson told the reporters as he laid a hand on Chris' shoulder. "He's the smartest person in his class, and even though he isn't usually talkative, everyone at school and in the neighborhood absolutely _loves_ him for who he is."

"Whenever he can," Chris' mother continued, "he always gives to charity, whether it's food, old electronics, used video games, and even candy, _especially_ Wonka's candies! We all agree that Willy Wonka produces the best candies and chocolates in the world, and it is such a wonderful thing to know that my handsome son will be going to Willy Wonka's factory tomorrow. My husband was actually there back in 2005 when he was a kid, and he watched with his very own eyes as the five lucky winners, including Charlie Bucket, went through the gates and into the factory. We have all been looking forward to this moment for a very long time, and Chris totally deserved to win his ticket to the factory."

"Yippeeeeeeee!" Mr. Wonka yelled as he sprang up from his chair and started to dance around on the floor. "I'll choose him! He's perfect! He's just like you, Charlie! He's smart, he's considerate of other people, he loves my products, and his father was there on the day when you went along for the tour! That's a bonus! What do you think, Charlie?"

"I think he would do very well as our heir," Charlie replied. "I can't wait to meet him face-to-face. I'm absolutely delighted about this, just as much as you are!"

"Still," Mr. Wonka said in a calmer tone, "even though I'm certain that he'll be the one, I think that we should give the others a chance. You told me to keep an open mind. We could test them like how I did the last time, just to see if they are better or worse than how they seemed on TV."

"Mr. Wonka, there's something else I must say," Charlie added. "I changed my mind on what we should do after the tour. Whoever wins will still meet up with the others in the Chocolate Room, but we'll immediately let the winner know that he or she won the prize beforehand. We'll do that instead of judging everyone on their personalities. Besides, the kids' behavior during the tour will reveal a lot about their true personalities, anyway. Does that sound good to you, Mr. Wonka?"

"It worked during the last tour," he replied, "although on that occasion, we saw the others from high up in the Great Glass Elevator as they were leaving the factory. I think that your idea of having everyone meet each other in the Chocolate Room is perfectly fine."

"Great," Charlie responded, his smile growing wider and wider. "We'd better get some rest, because we've got a big day ahead of us! I bet I'll be having a really good dream tonight since we finally found our prospective heir!"

"I'm sure I will, too," Mr. Wonka said, smiling.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading about the final winner! The factory tour will begin in the next chapter, which I'll publish on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on my schedule. Stay tuned!**


	10. The Tour Begins

Chapter 10 - The Tour Begins

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! This is the moment you've all been waiting for: the beginning of the tour! Before I respond to your reviews, there is a very serious issue that I need to address here.**

 **I don't know if anyone else's stories are being affected by this, but lately, trolls have been posting derogatory comments on my story. As a result, for my guest reviewers, your reviews will NOT show up immediately, because I am now moderating any and all guest reviews for my stories. To my fellow writers, DO NOT take the trolls' comments personally if they choose to comment on your stories. I strongly advise you to enable the setting that lets you moderate guest reviews if you haven't already. With that aside, it's response time.**

 **Sonny April, you'll find out about Chris' behavior during the next several chapters!**

 **TheIndividualist, I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. You'll find out who might become the heir near the end of the story.**

 **GirlPower54, I'm glad you're enjoying my story! As I said to TheIndivdualist, you'll find out who might become the heir near the end of the story.**

 **Softkitty55, That was my intention all along (not surprisingly). In fact, I actually wanted each new winner to bear at least a little resemblance to the old ones in some way. Antonio is from Rome, and Rome's first emperor was named Augustus. Yuna is sort of like Veruca since her parents bought her thousands of Wonka Bars, even though she did the work of unwrapping them herself. Mindy is like the 2005 Violet since she is very competitive and rather boastful. Daniel is similar to Mike from 2005 since they are both excellent with using computers, and they both cracked Wonka's systems to find their tickets. Jenna...I'm not totally sure about her. As far as I know, she doesn't resemble any of the old winners, except for (maybe) Mike from 2005 since they both don't care much for chocolate. Tyler resembles the 1971 Violet since he is very mean, and Chris obviously resembles Charlie. But is he _really_ like Charlie? Only I know!**

 **Linkwonka88, the update is here, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story.**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, you'll find out who will be eliminated first sooner** **than later!**

 **agentdemigod, thanks for explaining fan casting to me. I'd be curious to know which actors and actresses you'd consider if this story were to become a movie! As for new rooms, remember that this tour takes place forty years after the 2005 one, so of course there will be lots of new rooms for the group to explore!**

 **Tessa, you'll find out about how Chris might behave during the next several chapters.**

 **Whew, this was a long author's note. Don't worry, the rest of this chapter is really, _really_ long! Now, on with the story! :)**

The big day, September 1, had finally arrived. The sky was blue, without a single cloud in sight. An enormous crowd of people had gathered outside the factory, and the seven ticket winners stood in front of the building's magnificent iron gates along with their parents.

Antonio Ricci was wearing a light-blue T-shirt with an image of a fighter jet on it, along with matching blue shorts and sneakers. His father was dressed in a black suit, a white shirt, and a gray tie.

"Will there be any opportunities for me to jump today?" Antonio eagerly asked.

"I wouldn't count on it, son," his father replied. "Besides, you forgot your parachute at the hotel room, and it's much too late to go back."

"But I really want to show off my skills!" Antonio cried.

"Sorry, not today. It's for your own safety. Please don't be reckless."

Yuna Sayuki and her mother were wearing the same kimonos from when they were interviewed.

"I wonder if there will be any candies in there that will prevent me from getting older," Yuna said to her mother, who just nodded in response.

Mindy Bell wore her brown hair in a bun, and she was dressed in a yellow nylon shirt and shorts, white socks, and white running shoes. She was happily sucking on her record-breaking Everlasting Gobstopper while biding her time. Her mother also wore her hair in a bun, and she was wearing the exact same yellow outfit as her daughter.

"Eyes on the prize, Mindy. Eyes on the prize," she told her daughter, who nodded and stared straight ahead at the gates.

Daniel Sparkman managed to gel his short, brown hair into a barely-visible fohawk. He was wearing a shirt that he won at the video game tournament, along with faded blue jeans and black sneakers. His father was wearing red-framed glasses, a black-and-red striped golf shirt, and black jeans.

"I can't wait to see all of the technology that runs this factory," Daniel said. "Don't worry, I promise not to hack into anything during the tour."

Jenna Adams wore her bright, red hair down past her shoulders, allowing it to cascade down her back as well as over her chest. She wore a black T-shirt with Wormhole Citadel's logo on the front and tour dates on the back, along with black nylon shorts, black socks, and black Mary Janes. Her father also wore a Wormhole Citadel shirt, along with tan shorts and brown sandals.

"I can't wait to go in!" Jenna exclaimed with a wide grin on her face. "I'm so excited to see what might be hiding behind those doors. Do you think there might be a music room, Dad?"

"It could be likely," he replied. "If so, you can amaze everyone with a crazy bass solo!" Jenna smiled and flashed the sign of the horns with her right hand.

Tyler Smith wore a green T-shirt that had a picture of an angry skunk on it, along with tan shorts and black sneakers. He also wore a big, brown backpack on his back. His father wore a black suit with a fluorescent-green shirt and tie, along with a pair of well-ironed black pants, a black leather belt with a golden buckle, and shiny black shoes.

"Please don't throw any of your stink bombs while inside the factory, son," Mr. Smith told Tyler, who responded by scowling at him.

Christopher Davidson's black hair was gelled into spikes, as usual for him. He wore a red shirt that, not surprisingly, featured Wonka's logo on the front. Below it, he wore blue plaid shorts, white socks, and black running shoes with red laces. His father also had his hair gelled into spikes, and he wore a tank top with Wonka's logo on the front.

"I can't believe it," Chris said to his father. "We're actually going in!"

"Who is that kid over there?" Mindy suddenly asked, pointing to Chris. "I bet he's the one who claimed his ticket yesterday."

"He must be Wonka's biggest fan!" Antonio exclaimed. "Look at his shirt!"

"Well, I'll show him what's better than just being a fan of a chocolatier!" Tyler exclaimed as he began to unzip his backpack.

"Don't even think about it!" his dad yelled angrily. "If you throw even just one of your stink bombs at anyone today, I will take everything that belongs to you as soon as we get home!"

"We shouldn't go anywhere near Tyler during the tour, Chris," Mr. Davidson told his son. "He seems that he will cause nothing but trouble."

"I know that, Dad," Chris replied, nodding his head. As he began to look around in order to burn the image of the magnificent factory into his mind, he caught Jenna staring at him out of the corner of his eye. His stomach seemed to do a backflip and his cheeks turned bright-red.

"Is something wrong, son?" Chris' dad asked him with concern in his voice. "Why are you blushing?"

"It's nothing," Chris responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't worry."

Suddenly, a loud click was heard as the clock struck ten. All eyes were fixated on the enormous iron gates as they slowly began to open.

"Please enter!" A booming, smooth voice came from the speakers that were mounted on the factory's exterior walls. Everyone began to run towards the gates, and once they were inside the factory's courtyard, they stood still, unsure of what to do next.

"Come forward," the voice instructed, and all fourteen guests continued to walk further into the courtyard.

"Close the gates." The iron gates slowly began to close, and a loud clang drowned out every other sound once the gates were closed and locked.

"Dear visitors," the voice continued as everyone walked closer and closer to the factory's entrance, "it is my great pleasure to welcome you to my humble factory."

The guests arrived in front of a wall with three large doors that were positioned side by side.

"And who am I?" the voice asked dramatically as the entire wall began to split in half to reveal bright-red curtains. "Well..."

The curtains were raised, and an animatronic singing puppet show began.

 _Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka,_

 _The amazing chocolatier._

 _Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka,_

 _Everybody give a cheer!_

Mr. Davidson grinned excitedly at his son. "Chris, this was the same song that played forty years ago when I was a kid!"

 _He's modest, clever, and so smart, he barely can restrain it._

 _With so much generosity, there is no way to contain it!_

 _To contain it, to contain, to contain, to contain!_

Most of the group just stood still, except for Jenna and her father, who were moving slightly from side to side. Chris was also tapping his foot to the beat.

 _Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka,_

 _He's the one that you're about to meet._

 _Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka,_

 _He's a genius who just can't be beat._

 _The magician and the chocolate wiz,_

 _The best darn guy who ever lived,_

 _Willy Wonka, here he is!_

A spotlight shone down on the center of the stage, and two empty golden thrones that were cushioned with red velvet rose up from below. Suddenly, white-hot sparks flew everywhere, and the entire stage, including every one of the singing puppets, began to catch fire very rapidly. In addition, a dozen fireworks were launched in all directions from the roof of the factory, exploding in spectacular, multicolored bursts of light. The fire slowly began to die down, as did the catchy tune, and the puppets' eyes popped out of their sockets as they melted into a gooey, sizzling mess of charred plastic.

"Talk about a macabre conclusion," Antonio said under his breath just as the two famous chocolatiers swiftly walked out onto the stage amidst the flaming puppets.

Willy Wonka wore a black top hat, a wine-colored frock coat, black dress pants, and highly-polished black shoes. He wore a pair of purple latex gloves on his hands, and his violet eyes were shielded by round, tinted goggles with purple rims. In his hand, he held a long cane with a purple handle and a transparent shaft, and it was filled with candy from the Nerds room.

Charlie Bucket stood right next to Mr. Wonka. He was wearing a bright-red top hat with a wide, black brim, along with a bright-red frock coat, black dress pants, and black shoes. A darkly tinted pair of frameless glasses covered his olive-green eyes. Unlike Mr. Wonka, he was not wearing gloves, nor was he carrying a cane.

Mr. Wonka and Charlie proudly walked down the steps and stopped just a few feet in front of their guests.

"Welcome, everyone!" Mr. Wonka proudly greeted his guests, spreading his arms wide. "I see that we have some new faces here. Fourteen, to be exact! Of course, I don't think I need an introduction. I'm Willy Wonka, and this is Charlie Bucket." Charlie smiled and waved his right hand. "He was a Golden Ticket winner himself, forty years ago. I'm sure that some of the p-parents here might remember him."

"I remember seeing you on TV many years ago, Charlie," Tyler's father spoke. "I'm proud that you've been working alongside Mr. Wonka for all the time that had passed since then."

"Mr. Wonka, it's such a pleasure to meet you," Chris' dad said with a smile. "And you too, Charlie. I remember when you were just a little kid, and you were with your grandpa Joe. Am I correct?"

"You most certainly are, Mr. Davidson," Charlie replied, showing his pearly white teeth. "We're glad to have you here."

"Now, Charlie, I think we should get this tour under way," Mr. Wonka told him, but Charlie whispered something in his ear, causing him to gasp upon realizing something. "Oh yeah, I forgot something, everyone. We would like it if you could introduce yourselves. Who is going first?"

Mindy Bell was the first child to advance towards the two chocolatiers. She reached into her mouth and held her Everlasting Gobstopper in between her thumb and index finger. Mr. Wonka cringed at the sight of it.

"Mr. Wonka and Mr. Bucket," she spoke, "I'm Mindy Bell!"

"Oh," Mr. Wonka replied. "It's, uh, wonderful to meet you, I guess."

"You only _guess_ that it's wonderful to meet the girl who broke the world record for sucking on an Everlasting Gobstopper?" Mindy replied in disgust. "You're really weird." She placed her Gobstopper back into her mouth and walked away.

Yuna was the next person to acknowledge both chocolatiers.

"I'm Yuna Sayuki," she said. "I'm pleased to meet you both."

"And I'm pleased to meet you, too," Mr. Wonka replied. "What a lovely kimono you're wearing."

"Thank you," Yuna said before walking back towards her mother.

"I'm Antonio Ricci," the next kid spoke. "Do you have any skydiving opportunities here at the factory?"

"Don't get too reckless," Charlie warned him. "I can see that you didn't bring a parachute today." Antonio shrugged and walked towards his father.

Jenna Adams was the next child to walk up to Willy and Charlie.

"Greetings," she said. "I'm Jenna Adams. Do you have any musical instruments here, preferably a bass guitar?"

"Just you wait and see!" Mr. Wonka said as he smiled at her. "You'll hear a lot of music today during our tour."

"That's what I like to hear!" she exclaimed, flashing the horns with her hand before walking back to her father.

"I'm Tyler Smith," the next person spoke with a fake smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"It's good to meet you, too," Mr. Wonka replied with an equally fake smile. "You'll love some of the candy-making rooms that we have inside the factory!"

After Tyler walked back towards his father, an awkward silence followed for several seconds. Charlie signaled to Mr. Wonka, who cleared his throat to address the remaining two winners. Mr. Wonka looked at Daniel Sparkman first.

"You," he said, "you must be Daniel Sparkman. You're the little devil who hacked into my Linux server." Daniel frowned at him in response.

Charlie walked towards Chris, who smiled up at him.

"Last but far from least, you must be Chris Davidson," Charlie said, shaking the boy's hand. "I am so happy to have you here as my guest. And Mr. Davidson, welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the show just as much as before, if not more!"

"It was phenomenal!" Chris' father exclaimed. "Thank you."

"Now," Mr. Wonka said, "let's get a move on, kids!" He and Charlie led everyone past the flaming puppets and into the factory.

The group entered a very long hallway with cold, gray walls, a cold, gray ceiling, and a bright-red carpeted floor. Mr. Wonka and Charlie began to lead everyone down the corridor until Tyler's father complained about how warm the temperature was inside the factory. Charlie turned around and smiled at him.

"Mr. Smith," he replied, "the factory has to be kept warm inside because our workers are used to an extremely hot climate. They just can't stand the cold!"

"Who are they?" Jenna asked. "Who are the workers, I mean?"

"All in good time," Mr. Wonka replied as the group resumed walking. While everyone journeyed down the corridor, the children were engaging in little conversations with each other.

Chris hesitantly walked up to Jenna and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Y-you're the bassist of Wormhole Citadel, am I correct?" Chris asked her. "I'm actually a pretty big fan of your band."

Jenna let out a nervous laugh as she looked at him.

"I am, yes," she replied, "and thank you. Do you play any instruments, Chris?"

"I play the piano and the clarinet," he replied. "I've actually written piano arrangements of some of Wormhole Citadel's songs."

"Very impressive," Jenna said, winking at him. "So, friends?"

"Friends," Chris replied, trying his best to smile decently.

"So, do you like practical jokes?" Tyler asked Daniel.

"I do," Daniel replied, "but I sure don't like yours! Seriously, you acted like a freaking maniac on TV! You're not even trying to be funny."

"Well, it's not like you did any better by hacking into Wonka's server to claim your Golden Ticket!" Tyler retorted. The two boys glared at each other for several seconds before walking back to their parents.

Before long, the corridor was getting smaller and smaller as the group approached the end. Mr. Wonka and Charlie had to crouch down as they stopped in front of a tiny door that was just one inch tall.

"Behind this door," Charlie announced, "is one of the most important rooms in the entire factory."

"We call it the Chocolate Room," Mr. Wonka said as he dug out a set of keys and inserted the smallest one into the tiny door's keyhole. He turned the handle with his thumb and index finger and gently pushed the door open, but the entire wall opened up instead. With the exception of Mr. Wonka and Charlie (who visited this room daily), everyone gasped in amazement and wonder as they feasted their eyes on the room before them.

The Chocolate Room consisted of expansive, green meadows, as well as candy apple trees, marshmallow mushrooms, a field of candy pumpkins, rock candy pavers, and lollipop trees. The centerpiece was a wide river which was filled with hot, melted chocolate. At the very back of the room, there was a ninety-foot cliff over which a sheet of liquid chocolate cascaded and tumbled before crashing down into the river.

"Now," Mr. Wonka said, "do be careful, my dear children. Don't lose your heads. Don't get overexcited. Just keep very calm."

The tour group stood still like awestruck statues, with widened eyes and hanging jaws. Mindy's Everlasting Gobstopper fell out of her mouth as she took in the sight of the room, and she hurriedly knelt down onto the grass to reclaim it for herself. After several seconds of complete silence, the group decided to follow Mr. Wonka and Charlie as they made their way towards the river.

"It's beautiful," Chris commented as the group walked across the meadow. Charlie turned around and beamed at him, knowing that he had made the exact same comment when he first laid eyes on the Chocolate Room forty years ago.

"Oh yeah, it's very beautiful," Charlie replied before the group continued to walk towards the riverbank. He smiled and pointed to the river. "Every drop of the river is hot melted chocolate of the finest quality!" He and Mr. Wonka began to lead everyone across a long, narrow bridge, and they stopped right at the halfway point so that everyone had a clear view of the nine-story chocolate waterfall. The group took the time to breathe in the luscious scent of pure cocoa that seemed to pervade every molecule of air.

"The waterfall is most important," Mr. Wonka lectured. "Mixes the chocolate, churns it up, makes it light and frothy. By the way, no other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall, my dear children." He turned around to address the group, but his violet eyes were more focused on Chris than anyone else. "And you can take that to the bank," he added.

Mr. Wonka and Charlie continued to lead the group over the bridge, and they made their way down a series of colorful stone steps that were made from rock candy.

Once everyone was safely on the other side of the bridge, Mr. Wonka pointed to a big, round door that was mostly submerged in the river. It was at least twenty feet in diameter, and the disturbance from the waterfall caused enormous waves of melted chocolate to crash against it over and over again.

"People!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, getting everyone's attention. "You see this big door over here? Every few minutes, a powerful hydraulic system will cause this door to swing open, and thousands upon thousands of gallons of chocolate will rush through there and into the pipes which deliver it to the deepest areas of the factory. We also have a system of pipes which suck up the chocolate from the river, and they carry it away all over the factory."

"Why can't you just use one or the other?" Daniel asked. "Isn't having two systems running at the same time rather pointless? I mean, it's a huge waste of energy, for one thing—"

"Uh, I wish you wouldn't mumble," Mr. Wonka said, "because I can't hear a single word you're saying."

"The pipe that is behind that door is a passive system that relies entirely on gravity to do its work," Charlie told everyone, "so it actually _saves_ energy since no pumping or suction is required. That pipe only transports the chocolate to the very deepest rooms, though, since most of the factory is underground. For most of the rooms, which aren't quite as deep underground, we use an elaborate network of glass pipes to transport the chocolate to the ones that require it."

"Speaking of which," Mr. Wonka announced, "one of those pipes will lower itself into the river right now."

A saucer-like contraption moved into position over the river, and a long, transparent pipe slowly descended from it like an insect's proboscis. As soon as it broke the river's surface, a whirlpool was created, and in mere seconds, the chocolate was seen flowing and bubbling inside as the pipe sucked the liquid into the saucer. After a few minutes, the pipe retracted itself back into the saucer, which transported the chocolate out of the room.

"And do you like our meadow?" Mr. Wonka asked. "The grass that you're standing on right now is called swudge! Please try a blade, please do! It's so delectable and so darn good-looking!"

Chris' eyes widened in astonishment. "You can eat the grass?" he asked.

Mr. Wonka smiled at his favorite ticket winner. "Of course you can," he responded. "Everything in this room is edible, and even I'm edible! But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies."

"Now, go and enjoy yourselves, everyone!" Charlie exclaimed, and he grinned as everyone rushed off in different directions to explore the Chocolate Room on their own.

It didn't take long at all for Tyler to discover the candy pumpkin field. He knelt down beside a big, red gourd, and he kicked it with just enough force to pierce a small hole in its tough skin. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small bomb, and after setting a very short timer, he dropped it inside the candy pumpkin before running away as fast as he could. Seconds later, the bomb exploded with a muffled bang, and the pumpkin's gooey insides splattered on nearly every surface within a fifty-foot radius. Mr. Smith immediately ran towards his son.

"I told you not to set off any of your stupid bombs while inside the factory, Tyler!" he shouted. Tyler turned around and smirked at him.

"Dad," Tyler said, "Charlie told us to enjoy ourselves, and this is my way of enjoyment." He then began to walk around the area, licking the goo which had splattered on the trees and shrubs nearby.

Meanwhile, Chris found an enormous tree from which hung dozens of red toffee apples. He went to grab one with an outstretched arm, but just before his fingers could close around the fruit, someone's arm reached out and ripped it from the branch. Chris turned his head and saw that Mindy was standing beside him, clutching the apple in her right hand. She used the other hand to remove the Everlasting Gobstopper from her mouth.

"Isn't that rather unhygienic, Mindy?" Chris asked. "You've been sucking on that Gobstopper for nine years. Don't you realize how many germs are—"

"Listen," she interrupted, glaring at him. "I do wash it every night before I go to bed. You see, I broke a Guinness World Record with this Gobstopper here. You're just a pathetic loser who only thinks about Willy Wonka and nothing else."

"I am not!" he retorted. "It's no different than being a fan of a band or a sports team."

"Worshipping Mr. Wonka like a blind sheep will not get you anywhere, Chris. I work hard to be a winner, and you're just a follower. That's that." Mindy took an enormous bite out of her apple and walked away.

Yuna found a secluded area in a corner of the Chocolate Room that was full of yellow flowers. She went to pick one up, and she gasped in surprise when the petals separated from the bottom section, which turned out to be a little yellow plate. She took a sip from the petal cup, and she smiled as sweet, honey-like syrup ran down her throat.

Not far away, Antonio was blowing into a pink candy balloon, and it swelled up to nearly five feet in diameter before it popped, covering his face with a squishy, rubbery blob of pink candy.

"That was rather enjoyable," he said after he gobbled up the candy blob. "Now, if only Mr. Wonka could start making candy parachutes!"

Jenna ran towards one of the lollipop trees, and she carefully removed a small, red one from one of the lowest branches. A few seconds later, she spotted Chris slowly walking towards her.

"Hey, Jenna," Chris said shyly, "I thought you said you didn't care for candy."

"I do like candy, Chris," she replied with a smile. "It's just that I'd rather have other foods, for the most part. I could just live without it. Not that I hate it, but I don't need it, if you know what I mean." Chris nodded in response.

"Well, if you don't mind," he said, "I'll go off on my own again to explore the rest of the room."

"I'd be happy to go with you," Jenna told him. "I mean, we're friends now, and friends should stick together."

"Very well," Chris responded, and the two children began walking towards a nearby field of gummy worms.

Daniel went over to a strange-looking patch of grass near the base of the waterfall. Each individual blade seemed to be glowing, and they changed color every few seconds.

"Hey, Mr. Wonka, what's this?" Daniel asked once he was within earshot.

"Oh!" Mr. Wonka replied. "Let me show ya!" He then took out a small wireless microphone and announced with a booming voice, "Can everyone meet me over here? There's something I want you all to see."

Once everyone gathered around the spot where Daniel and Mr. Wonka were standing, Mr. Wonka began telling the group about his beloved creation.

"This is Solar Swudge," he said as he took a single blade out of the ground. "It glows in the dark, and it also changes color every few seconds. It even changes its flavor if you hold onto it long enough. For example, one of these blades might start out with a minty flavor, and thirty seconds later, it might taste like coconut or lime. It's completely random, so every single blade will taste different. Or they might taste the same! You'll never know, haha!"

"Does it do anything to you when you eat it?" Yuna inquired.

"Not necessarily," Charlie answered, "unless you're in a dark place. The Solar Swudge will cause you to glow in the dark, and just like the blades themselves, you will glow a different color every few seconds. They're perfect for glow-in-the-dark parties and nightclubs."

"Amazing!" Daniel exclaimed. "How exactly do they change color?"

"It's the result of a natural phenomenon called bioluminescence," Mr. Wonka answered, "combined with some genetic engineering, as well as a very secret ingredient. Super amazing stuff, this Solar Swudge. Now, shall we move on? I've got something else to show you."

Mr. Wonka and Charlie began leading everyone towards another area, but their forward progress was suddenly interrupted by a loud cry that echoed throughout the entire Chocolate Room.

 **Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed this extra-long chapter! What do you think will happen next? Feel free to comment and share your opinions! :)**


	11. Antonio's Downfall

Chapter 11 - Antonio's Downfall

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I'm back with chapter eleven. As you can see by the chapter's title, most of your questions have been answered. Of course, I'll still respond to the rest of your reviews.**

 **dragonserpent18, I'm glad you're enjoying the relationship between Jenna and Chris!**

 **agentdemigod, yes, the tour _has_ finally started, and I'm very glad you enjoyed the chapter! Even if the actors and actresses may be a tad older than the characters in my story, it should still be interesting!**

 **TheIndividualist, I'm glad you enjoyed the** **chapter!**

 **GirlPower54,** **I'm glad you're also enjoying the relationship between Jenna and Chris, as well as Tyler and Daniel's rivalry. You'l find out about what's in store for Tyler over the next few chapters!**

 **Sonny April, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

 **Softkitty55, this story is based on the 2005 movie universe. As for Jenna and Chris, you'll find out over the next several chapters.**

 **Linkwonka88, just keep reading to find out! Now, on with the story!**

"Antonio, my son! Get down from there this instant!" Mr. Ricci cried. "The long way!"

Everyone's heads turned to follow his gaze, and sure enough, Antonio somehow managed to find the secret stairwell that led to the top of the nine-story chocolate waterfall.

"Hey, little boy!" Mr. Wonka cried, trying his best to sound worried. "I'd get down from there if I were you! You're contaminating my chocolate river by dipping your toes in it!"

"Mr. Wonka cares more about his chocolate than Antonio's safety," Daniel whispered in his dad's ear. "Something is very wrong here."

"You're at risk of injuring yourself, Antonio!" his father shouted. "Remember, you forgot your parachute!"

"Please, I beg you!" Charlie yelled. "Get down from there!"

"Don't worry!" Antonio shouted from nine stories up. "I'll get down from here, the quick way!" He took one defiant step closer to the edge of the cliff.

"I'm warning you, don't do it!" his father shouted. The reckless boy responded by taking another step that brought him closer to the edge.

"Please, don't do it," Mr. Wonka said halfheartedly. He was trying his hardest to hide a smile as he watched Antonio walk closer to the edge of the precipice.

"Uh, how about YES!" Antonio yelled defiantly. "I'm doing it, whether you like it or not!" He took five steps back, and then he began to run forward before yelling, "GERONIMO!"

"He's going to jump!" Jenna cried in terror. Sure enough, Antonio vaulted himself off the cliff and began to dive headfirst, plunging nearly one-hundred feet to the river below.

"He sure is reckless," Chris whispered into Jenna's ear just before Antonio hit the surface of the chocolate river with a big splash. For several seconds, he was nowhere to be seen. Everyone watched with bated breath as the seconds slowly ticked by.

"No!" Antonio's father screamed just before his son finally resurfaced, his face painted brown with chocolate. "He can't swim!"

Antonio was flailing around in the river, but that was the least of his worries as the big, round door that delivered the chocolate to the deepest rooms began to swing open, and the current was pulling him towards it.

"No! My son!" Mr. Ricci shouted as the Italian skydiver was helplessly carried through the large opening by the strong current, where he disappeared into the blackness. "Where is he going?"

Mr. Wonka smiled at him. "Well, the pipe he's going down has just been diverted to the room where I make the most delicious Salted Caramel Crunchy Munchy Peanut Brittle!"

"Then he'll be made into Salted Caramel Crunchy Munchy Peanut Brittle!" Antonio's father cried. "They'll be selling him by the pound all over the world!"

"No, I wouldn't allow it," Mr. Wonka quickly replied. "The taste would be terrible, for one thing. Second, any customers who buy that product would become cannibals. Can you imagine Antonio Caramel Crunchy Munchy Peanut Ricci? Ew, no one would buy it."

Suddenly, the sound of snare drums and trumpets began to fill the air.

"What are those things?" Daniel asked, pointing to a small group of strange people who gathered around the waterfall. They had funny-looking hair and pug-like faces, and they were wearing bright-red nylon suits. They were just barely shorter in height than Mr. Wonka's knee. More and more of the little men filled the room, and soon enough, there were over one-hundred of them, and they were gathering along the riverbanks as well as on the bridge near the waterfall.

"Who are they?" Yuna inquired.

"What are they doing?" Chris asked, and Mr. Wonka smiled at him.

"Why, I believe they're gonna treat us to a little song," he responded as a military march began. "They are my workers, and you'll know more about them later."

The little men marched a full lap around the Chocolate Room, and once they stopped, they began a choreographed dance and started to sing. Mr. Wonka was bobbing his head to the beat of the drums.

 _This little boy who went sky-high,_

 _Has proven reckless, so the end is nigh._

 _Don't worry, children, he will be fixed,_

 _But before that, he must be mixed,_

 _Into crunchy, munchy peanut brittle!_

 _Antonio Ricci, don't you see_

 _That what you did was a grave mistake?_

 _Skydiving may be fun, but don't you run_

 _Off the roofs of buildings, for goodness sake!_

 _He just went on a little journey,_

 _So whatever you do, do not worry._

 _Since he's bound to learn his lesson,_

 _Please don't fear for him anymore._

 _He'll just be crunchier than he was before!_

 _Antonio Ricci, don't you see_

 _That what you did was a grave mistake?_

 _Skydiving may be fun, but don't you run_

 _Off the roofs of buildings, for goodness sake!_

 _Don't you see that what you did_

 _Was such a stupid, grave mistake?_

 _Just keep your feet firm on the ground,_

 _And you'll forever be safe and sound._

 _But with a stupid brain so little,_

 _We're glad you've turned into peanut brittle!_

 _Antonio Ricci, don't you see_

 _That what you did was a grave mistake?_

 _Skydiving may be fun, but don't you run_

 _Off the roofs of buildings, for goodness sake!_

 _Skydiving may be fun, but don't you run_

 _Off the roofs of buildings, for goodness sake!_

The little men began to disperse as the song died down, and Mr. Wonka applauded their performance.

"Bravo! Well done! Aren't they delightful? Aren't they charming?"

"I could tell that their performance was rehearsed," Tyler's dad said. "I take my university students out to watch dance performances from different cultures, so I know the signs."

"I bet they knew that Antonio would jump off the waterfall the way he did," Daniel said. Mr. Wonka turned to look at him.

"Once again," he said, "I really can't understand you. You mumble _way_ too much."

Daniel yelled at the top of his lungs: "I SAID THAT THEY KNEW THAT ANTO—"

"Sorry, I still can't hear you very well," Mr. Wonka told him. He then made a strange trilling noise and one of his workers immediately appeared in front of him. He had to kneel down in order to look at the little person face-to-face. "I want you to take Mr. Ricci down to the Peanut Brittle Room, okay? Help him find his son. Once you get there, just take a long stick, and start poking around in the big peanut brittle mixing barrel." He made poking and mixing motions with his cane to demonstrate. "'Kay?" The man nodded and crossed his arms over his chest in a sort of tribal manner, which Mr. Wonka repeated. He then walked over to Mr. Ricci, who let out a frightened gasp as the little man tugged on his pants. He smiled at Antonio's father, as did Mr. Wonka and Charlie, and they left the Chocolate Room together to search for Antonio.

"Now," Mr. Wonka asked, "on with the tour?"

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Fun fact: Antonio's elimination was a reference to a very early draft of CatCF which featured a girl named Miranda Mary Piker, who also ended up in the Peanut Brittle Room. (This was before the Spotty Powder draft.) Since the group will now be journeying deeper into the factory, feel free to provide some ideas for rooms that they should visit, and of course, stay tuned for the next chapter! :)**

 **Update: Sorry about the long wait. I should be publishing the next chapter on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on my schedule. Plus, I also have to write some lyrics for the next Oompa Loompa song (I'm not telling you who will be eliminated next), and as you may know by now, lyrics aren't my strong point, so they take a while for me to come up with. Just be patient and hang in there, everyone! :)**


	12. Down the River

Chapter 12 - Down the River

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I'm terribly sorry that I took so long to post this chapter. Remember, when updates are slow, look to real life, ladies and gentlemen. ;) Without any further ado, I'll respond to your reviews.**

 **GirlPower54, I'm glad you enjoyed Antonio's song. You'll find out which rooms might be explored as we get further into the story.**

 **Sonny April, you'll find out soon!**

 **agentdemigod, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! You'll find out who will be eliminated next in Chapter 13, which I'll publish in a few days.**

 **TheIndividualist, you'll find out soon!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993 (very cool name), Chris indeed has a crush on Jenna. As for the rooms you suggested, you'll find out whether or not I'll include them later on.**

 **wonkaisbae, I'm glad you're enjoying my story! You won't know who will win until the end of the story, which is still many, many chapters ahead.**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Just keep reading to find out what will happen next!**

 **Linkwonka88, don't worry, the group will visit those rooms later. I promise. :)**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I'm glad you enjoyed the last few chapters. And do you really think that Charlie and Mr. Wonka are just going to refer to the Oompa Loompas as "workers" for the whole tour? Naw, that would be too boring! Of course the kids want to know who the workers are! By the way, those were some really good suggestions for rooms. I'll think about including at least some of them.**

 **Turrislucidus, as you know, I responded to your review via PM. Now, on with the story!**

"Where are we going next, Mr. Wonka?" Chris asked.

"Transportation has been arranged for all of us," Mr. Wonka answered, leading the group towards a dock that was beside the river. "I hope that none of you are overly susceptible to seasickness." Everyone shook their heads. Seconds later, a circular raft emerged from around a corner, and it pulled up to the dock. It had seven pairs of inward-facing seats, similar to the rafts found in amusement parks.

"All aboard!" Charlie said, and the entire group proceeded to climb into the raft and take their seats.

"Mr. Wonka," Chris asked as he took his seat next to Jenna, "will Antonio be fine? That was quite the fall."

"I'll admit that was very stupid of him," Daniel added. "Considering the height from which he fell as well as his terminal velocity, he most certainly reached a speed of about fifty miles per hour, if not more, when he landed in the chocolate. He had to have broken several bones as a result of his mindless stunt. And as for how on earth Antonio even survived that fall, I don't know. A jump from that height, especially for a preteen like him, should have been lethal."

"And to think that Antonio is trained in skydiving," Chris' dad added. "How could he have been so dumb? He wasn't reckless; he was flat-out heedless! I don't know what to make of that, honestly."

Mr. Wonka's expression suddenly went blank, as if he was found guilty of committing a crime. "Well, I can assure you that my Oompa... I mean _workers_ for now, will fix him up. At least, I hope they will."

"What in the world is an Oompa?" Daniel asked, but this only earned him a frown from Willy. "Right, I shouldn't mumble," he said to himself.

"You're learning," Mr. Wonka responded with just a hint of a smile.

"Is this gonna go fast?" Tyler asked with a worried look on his face. "I'm scared of these kinds of rides!"

"Well, you don't have much of a choice now, do you, little boy?" Mr. Wonka replied just as the raft began to slowly move away from the dock.

"For a kid who uses explosives like no one's business," Mindy said to Daniel, "he sure seems to be a wimp."

"I heard that!" Tyler yelled angrily.

"The nerve of that kid," Jenna whispered to Chris. "Tyler's very immature, in my opinion. He must change his ways sooner or later."

"I agree," Chris whispered back. "Still, though, I hope Antonio hasn't been injured too badly."

The raft floated past the chocolate waterfall, and after it turned a corner, the river seemed to disappear from view as the raft approached a tunnel.

"I'm scared!" Tyler whimpered as the raft entered the darkness. "I don't want to go in that tunnel!"

"Here it comes!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed.

"Here what comes?" Yuna asked worriedly. Mr. Wonka looked at her and smiled.

"Well, little girl, we're gonna pick up some speed before we drop, haha!" he answered.

"Drop?!" Tyler screamed before burying his face in his dad's shoulder. "Let me off right now!"

"Coward," Mindy said under her breath, scowling at Tyler.

"Do you like roller coasters?" Chris asked Jenna.

"Oh, yes," Jenna replied, grinning at him. "I love them! If this turns out to be like one, I'm _really_ going to enjoy this tour!"

Everyone began to brace themselves for the impending drop... but it never came. The raft was still moving at a leisurely pace as it emerged into an underground lake that was surrounded by a number of large, round doors with glowing labels on them. Jenna's excited grin quickly became a frown of disappointment.

"Whoops!" Mr. Wonka said. "I guess the track has been switched by accident. There actually _was_ a big drop just behind us, but the track has been switched to keep going straight instead of downwards. I guess I forgot to tell you. Oh, and we should stop here. I wanna show you guys something."

The raft stopped just outside a door that was labeled: "PROTOTYPE CANDY TESTING ROOM". Everyone climbed out of the raft, and Mr. Wonka pushed open the big, round door before leading the group inside.

 **Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm nearly done writing the next one, and it should be uploaded in a couple of days. Stay tuned. :)**


	13. The Prototype Candy Testing Room

Chapter 13 - The Prototype Candy Testing Room

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I'm terribly sorry about the long wait, but the update is here now! I hope that everyone's holidays went well, and this will be the last chapter I'll publish in 2016! My, how time flies.**

 **I also want to tell you that I came up with two original candies for this chapter, so let me know what you think of them! Now, it's response time.**

 **GirlPower54, you'll find out who will be eliminated very soon!**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you're enjoying Chris and Jenna's relationship as much as you are. I thought it would be fun if Mr. Wonka could surprise the kids by not having the raft go down the drop (then again, he did say that the best kind of prize is a SUR** **-prize). As for whether or not the Prototype Candy Testing Room is the new name for the Inventing Room, just keep reading to find out!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, I'm sure it's just because you reviewed another story. Most of the authors here (myself included) like to respond to each person's reviews, so that's why your username was mentioned.**

 **Linkwonka88, you'll find out who will be eliminated soon. As a child, I was terrified of roller coasters myself, but now I absolutely love them!**

 **agentdemigod, I don't even know if there would be enough room for everyone in there, considering that most of the candy boat is occupied by the Oompa Loompas! Everyone would have to sit on each other's lap, and that would be rather awkward now, wouldn't it?**

 **Sonny April, you'll find out very soon!**

 **cheese54, that certainly wouldn't be good if Charlie fell in the river! The entire tour would be brought to a halt if** **that happened!**

 **MrWonkyWonka, I'm glad you got a kick out of Daniel's quote. You'll find out what's inside that room shortly! Now, on with the story! :)**

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Wonka announced, "welcome to the Prototype Candy Testing Room!"

The group entered a massive room where several strange-looking machines were scattered about. Each one was producing a certain type of candy.

"This room is where the second stage of testing new candies takes place," Charlie said. "The Inventing Room is our main laboratory where we create brand-new candies. From there on, they would initially be tested in the Inventing Room's testing lab, and if they pass, we would move those inventions over here, to the Prototype Candy Testing Room, for further testing. Unfortunately, we can't show you the Inventing Room today since a top-secret recipe is being made inside there, so this was our second choice for the tour. Go enjoy yourselves, everyone!"

Chris ran towards a large machine at the center of the room, and Jenna trailed closely behind him. The machine looked somewhat like a jellyfish, with a bulbous top section and long, spiraling, tentacle-like glass chutes hanging from below. Every few seconds, a tiny, blue ball that was no bigger than a pebble slid down one of the chutes, and each one landed on a conveyor belt.

"Mr. Wonka, what are these things?" Jenna asked. Mr. Wonka smiled from halfway across the room before he made his way towards the two children.

"Well, let me show ya!" he cheerily replied as his gloved hand took one of the tiny candies from the conveyor belt. "These are Sour Stingers, and they're great for your enemies. These candies are so unbelievably sour that your lips will pucker instantly, and the taste will linger in your mouth for up to three hours, no matter how you try to get rid of it." Chris and Jenna exchanged looks before they nodded and walked away to continue exploring the room.

Daniel followed Mindy towards a machine which churned out several bright-orange cubes at an astonishing rate. They each took one from the machine's conveyor belt, and they began chewing on the cubes, which were orange-flavored.

"Wow, these are great!" Daniel exclaimed. "I wish I could have some more!" Suddenly, his expression changed to that of worry.

"What's wrong?" Mindy asked with concern, noticing the anxious look on Daniel's face.

"Listen to my voice!" Daniel exclaimed. His voice was rising in pitch until he began to sound like a chipmunk. "Is it happening to you as well?"

"Yes, it is!" Mindy replied with a ridiculously high-pitched voice.

"Ah, I see you two have found my Chipmunk Chews," Mr. Wonka said with glee as everyone else gathered around. He took one of the cubes from the conveyor so that everyone could see. "These are mostly good for parties, and they're a safer alternative to sucking the helium out of balloons in order to sound like a chipmunk. Don't worry, it wears off pretty quick. Your voices will be back to normal in about a minute."

Suddenly, Daniel noticed another one of Mr. Wonka's tiny employees walking towards a nearby machine.

"Mr. Wonka," he squeaked, pointing to the little man who was unscrewing an access panel to one of the machines, "may I ask again who your workers are? Are they real people?"

"Of course they're real people," Mr. Wonka answered. "They're Oompa Loompas." This piqued the curiosity of the entire group.

"Oompa Loompas," Chris said to himself. "That's what they're called, Oompa Loompas?"

"Imported direct from Loompaland," Charlie proudly added.

"Excuse me," Tyler's dad interrupted, "but there's no such place. I teach World Affairs at the University of Calg—"

It was Mr. Wonka's turn to interrupt this time. "Well, then you'll know all about it, and oh, what a terrible country it is." Mr. Wonka spent the next few minutes telling the tour group about how he acquired his employees.

"Now," Charlie announced once Willy finished his story, "before we leave, Willy and I have one last thing to show you." He led the group towards an enormous machine with tiny glass spheres that were connected by dozens of hoses and pipes.

"Watch this," Mr. Wonka said as he pulled a lever. Sirens were blaring and the area was bathed in a harsh, red light. The guests instinctively backed away from the machine, which whirred and sputtered as it did its work. A few seconds later, a tiny, yellow pill was ejected from the machine, and it fell onto a small glass tray.

"That's all?" Daniel asked, disappointed with the rather anti-climactic result. At least his voice had returned to its normal pitch.

"That's all," Willy answered with a smile as he clutched the pill between his thumb and index fingers. "This is called Wonka-Vite. It's a brand-new vitamin pill that I developed, and it will rejuvenate the lives of seniors all over the world by making them all nice and young again. Isn't that neat?"

"Mr. Wonka," Yuna asked, "can I take a look at it?"

"Sure you can," Mr. Wonka answered, giving the pill to Yuna. She twirled it between her fingers, examining the pill from all angles. "I will warn you, though, that it isn't exactly safe for children."

"What makes you say that?" Yuna asked, frowning. "It will make me younger. I want to be young for the rest of my life! Isn't that what it will do to me?"

"Yes, it will do that just fine," Charlie said, "but—"

"But what?" Yuna interrupted forcefully, surprising Charlie with her sudden change in attitude. "It can't be all that bad, honestly." She placed the Wonka-Vite pill into her mouth and swallowed it.

"You're not even old in the slightest, Yuna!" Mrs. Sayuki exclaimed as her daughter looked at her. "I'd spit it out if I were you!"

"Well, it's too late now," Mr. Wonka said quietly. "The Wonka-Vite has already been absorbed into her bloodstream. It acts _very_ fast. Just watch."

"I don't feel so good," Yuna whimpered, clutching her chest. Immediately after she said that, she began to shrink visibly and rapidly. "Mom, what's happening to me?!" she cried.

Everyone watched as Yuna became smaller and smaller, and her kimono, which did not shrink with her, immediately fell to the ground in a heap. A few seconds later, Yuna emerged from underneath her kimono, which was now way too big for her. She was less than three feet tall, and she wobbled from side to side as she silently walked towards her mother.

"My poor baby!" Mrs. Sayuki cried as she lifted Yuna's tiny body into her arms. "What happened?"

"Just be glad that she didn't take the _original_ Wonka-Vite pill," Mr. Wonka told her. "That pill would have decreased her age by _twenty_ years instead of eight, like this one."

"You mean my beautiful Yuna is only two years old?!" Yuna's mother screamed in horror. "She celebrated her tenth birthday just a month ago!"

"She is only two, yes," Mr. Wonka calmly replied. "Had she taken the original recipe, she would have vanished into Minusland, which is hundreds of miles below us. She would have been minus ten years old." Mrs. Sayuki glared at him in response.

Before anyone else could say anything, a catchy beat filled the room, and a large group of Oompa Loompas began to assemble near the Wonka-Vite machine.

"I think the Oompa Loompas are gonna sing another song," Chris said to his father as the tiny workers formed a circle around the group, and a Japanese pop-style song began. Mr. Wonka was happily dancing to the music.

 _It is such a sad, sad fate,_

 _To be ten years old, and subtract eight._

 _Of course, this means that poor, poor Yu,_

 _Is just a tot, no older than two._

 _Just be glad that she was spared,_

 _From going down to Minusland,_

 _Where the Gnoolies could bite your hand._

 _She'll be the talk of the town,_

 _And people will laugh like clowns._

 _But that's the price that she must pay_

 _For wanting to stay young, and young to stay._

 _She'll bawl and cry for the entire day,_

 _Cause she won't know too many words to say._

 _So here's to your sweet, little tot,_

 _Who will stay two, or maybe not._

 _We have the perfect antidote in store,_

 _That if used wrong, she'll turn eighty-four._

 _It's the only way, they say,_

 _To brighten up this poor girl's day._

 _We must now bid this tot goodbye,_

 _So we can give this cure a try!_

Once the song faded away, Mr. Wonka walked over to one of the Oompa Loompas.

"Now, I need you to give Yuna a _very_ specific dose of Vita-Wonk in order to restore her age," he said to the tiny person. "No more than a sixteenth of a teaspoon, please. She needs to be ten years old, not ten-thousand. 'Kay?" The Oompa Loompa crossed his arms and bowed his head, and he promptly escorted Mrs. Sayuki and her daughter out of the room and onto the raft.

"Come on, everyone," Charlie said, and he and Willy led the remaining ten guests towards another door that led out of the room. "Off we go!"

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Wonka-Vite and Vita-Wonk were featured in "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", and that's also where the Gnoolies came from in case you didn't know what the heck they were. I do have one question for all of you: how would you like to see Tyler get eliminated? (I'm not saying that he'll be the next person. I just want some ideas.) Stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone! :)**

 **Update: I changed the genre of the song from hip-hop/rap to Japanese pop, to suit Yuna better. I guess I just got carried away while writing and I overlooked the genre for Yuna's song! Whoops! Thanks to Sonny April for pointing it out to me.**


	14. Down the Corridor

Chapter 14 - Down the Corridor

 **Hello, readers! I'm back! Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Without further ado, it's response time again!**

 **To everyone who made predictions and suggestions for Tyler's demise, you'll find out soon what his fate might be!**

 **GirlPower54, I'm glad you liked the Wonka-Vite and Vita-Wonk. Just keep reading to find out which rooms the group will explore!**

 **TheIndividualist, sorry to crush your hopes. However, you'll find out soon what might happen to him!**

 **Linkwonka88, I'm glad you enjoyed reading about the Chipmunk Chews. I tried sucking in the helium from a balloon once, and while I didn't pass out, it sure felt weird to be talking at a higher pitch than normal!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, hmm, that would have been a good idea for a room! I did mention that room in my other story, "Where All the Bad Nuts Go". It was in chapter 17 of that one.**

 **Sonny April, as you know, I changed the genre of Yuna's song to Japanese pop. I figured that since Yuna was obsessed with staying young, I could use the opportunity to pay tribute to the sequel of CATCF, which, in my opinion, is highly underrated.**

 **agentdemigod, the Wonka-Vite was supposed to be for Charlie's grandparents. As for the Sour Stingers, come to think of it, they could have been used for his demise, but alas, that didn't happen.**

 **dragonserpent18, you're right. It can only get more mysterious as time goes on.**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you liked the candies from the previous chapter, as well as how Yuna was eliminated. It surprised you, didn't it? :)**

 **marty munster, cheese bean, and food 66 (interesting usernames you have there), thanks for the room suggestions. The group will visit a few of those later.**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, don't be sorry. Better late than never, as they always say. I'm glad you also enjoyed the Wonka-Vite and Vita-Wonk, and you'll soon find out where the group will go next!**

 **Tessa, she did turn 358 years old. The room you mentioned will not be used for Tyler's demise, unfortunately, although the group might take a peek into that room later. Now, on with the story!**

Mr. Wonka and Charlie Bucket led the group down a long, winding corridor with several big, round doors on each side. Each door had a glowing label on it, as well as a large, wheel-like handle that resembled the ones found on vault doors.

"Now, people," Mr. Wonka said, "this is one of the factory's main corridors. The rooms here are very important, so we should go and check some of them out."

"Where are your Internet servers located?" Daniel asked him. "I'd love to see how they work."

"Sorry, but you're mumbling again," Mr. Wonka told him just as the group passed a door that was labeled: "LAFFY TAFFY". "I really wish you'd stop doing that."

"That seems like Tyler's kind of candy, since he likes jokes so much," Chris whispered to Jenna, who responded with a smirk. "Laffy Taffy is my mom's favorite candy."

"Let's stop here, everyone," Charlie announced as the group approached the next door in the corridor. It was labeled: "SQUARE CANDIES THAT LOOK ROUND".

"These are among our most unique products," Mr. Wonka said proudly. "Take a look and see for yourself." The group crowded around the door and looked through the window. Rows upon rows of long, stainless steel tables dominated the room, and on each one were hundreds of small cubes with eyes.

"I don't get it," Daniel said, shrugging his shoulders. "They're supposed to be round."

"No, they're supposed to be _square_ ," Mindy told him. "How does that make them look round?"

"Maybe when you look at them long enough, they puff up and turn into spheres or something," Jenna suggested.

"Well, they don't become round," Mr. Wonka told her. "They just _look_ round."

"That doesn't make any sense, Mr. Wonka," Tyler's father replied. "If they look round, why are they square? They should be looking round right now."

The guests continued to argue with the two chocolatiers until Chris realized something.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, and everyone immediately stopped arguing. "I think I might know what all of this means. I bet it has something to do with their eyes."

Mr. Wonka smiled at him, and then he proceeded to open the door. At the sound of the door handle turning, the candies all turned to face the door, and their tiny eyes began to look in multiple directions.

"I _knew_ it!" Chris yelled in triumph, raising his fist into the air. "Those square candies are looking 'round!"

"Wonderful, Chris!" Charlie exclaimed, giving him a high-five. "You figured out that riddle faster than anyone else I've known!"

"Shame on me," Jenna said to herself, letting out a muffled sigh as everyone resumed walking. "How could I have not known that? Oh, well."

A few seconds later, the group approached another door, and it was labeled: "CHOCOLATE MILK COWS".

"This is the room where we produce our world-famous chocolate milk!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed. "Take a look inside, everyone!" The group crowded around the door.

A large field of mint grass took up most of the area, and on each side of the room was a row of fifteen fully automated milking stations. The cows in the room were producing chocolate milk, and their bodies were brown with large black spots. Most of the cows were grazing on the mint grass, but there were a few who stood inside the milking stations. Rich, pure chocolate milk flowed through the clear plastic pipes that were connected to the cows' udders.

"Now _that's_ an innovative way to produce chocolate milk," Daniel's father said in amazement. "I'm assuming you worked your genetic engineering tricks on them as well?"

"Precisely," Mr. Wonka replied with a smile. "Everyone else's cows just produce regular milk, so they require huge factories just to turn the regular milk into chocolate milk. I figured that since we've come so far with genetic science, why not have the cows themselves produce the milk? It saves space and energy, it's very unique, and the milk is rich and creamy and so darn delicious. Now, come along."

The two chocolatiers led everyone past a round door that was wide open. This area was nearly identical to the Chocolate Milk Cows room, except the milking stations were vibrating as the cows stood on them. The milk that flowed through the plastic tubes was very frothy as a result of the shaking.

"They're making milkshakes!" Chris exclaimed in delight. "My favorite kind, too!"

"Precisely," Mr. Wonka said before letting out a small giggle.

"I don't get it," Daniel said, unimpressed. Mr. Wonka turned and frowned at him.

"For your information," he told Daniel, "milkshake isn't milkshake at all unless the cow has been shaken. Everybody knows that." Daniel chose not to argue with Mr. Wonka's statement, and he took Mindy's hand as the group walked onward.

The next door they came across was labeled: "GOLDEN CHOCOLATE EGGS".

"This is another room that we must show you," Mr. Wonka told everyone. "After this room, I'll let you kids choose some of your own. Now, in we go." Just before he turned the handle, Tyler jumped right in front of the chocolatier, blocking him from entering the room.

"Mr. Wonka, I _demand_ that you show me where the prank candies are," Tyler said rudely. Mr. Wonka glared at him in irritation.

"Well, demanding won't get you very far, little boy," he replied. "I promise I'll show you that room very soon."

"But I want to see that room _right now!_ " Tyler screamed.

"What an immature moron," Jenna mumbled to herself.

"He reminds me of Veruca," Charlie whispered to Mr. Wonka as Tyler stormed off towards his father.

"I know," Mr. Wonka quietly replied. "He's nothing but a big wart, just like what she was."

Now that Tyler wasn't blocking Mr. Wonka's path anymore, he finally opened the big, round door, and the tour group entered a circular room with a very high ceiling. A shelf-like platform spanned nearly the entire rear half of the room, and above that platform were seven large, white geese, who were laying their eggs in straw-filled glass nests. As soon as an egg was laid, a trapdoor opened and the egg was sent down an elaborate contraption consisting of scoops, slides, and teeter-totters before it softly landed on a scale, which sorted the good eggs from the bad ones.

"People," Mr. Wonka announced, "these geese produce our golden chocolate eggs. We ship the eggs out year-round, but of course, they're especially in high demand when Easter approaches. These geese are quadruple-sized, so they're much larger than ordinary geese, and the eggs they produce are octuple-sized."

"Watch the scale, everyone," Charlie said just as an egg landed on one of the seven scales. A series of LED lights above the scale lit up in a green color, accompanied by a dinging sound. An Oompa Loompa carefully removed the egg from the scale and he polished the egg to a mirror finish before placing it on a conveyor belt. "That was a good egg, so now it's on its way to the packaging department. If it's a bad egg, it goes down the garbage chute."

"Speaking of which, I think we got a bad one right here," Mr. Wonka said as another egg landed on one of the scales. The lights turned red this time, and a buzzer went off as the scale swung open like a trapdoor, sending the egg down the garbage chute.

"Just out of curiosity," Chris asked, "where does the chute go?"

"To the incinerator," Mr. Wonka replied. "We light it on Fridays."

"Today _is_ Friday," Daniel remarked.

"Well, that's a good thing," Mr. Wonka told him, "because that means that no one here should be jumping on those scales, since they will classify you as a bad egg." Daniel frowned at him in response.

"If it makes you feel better," Charlie added, "the scales will classify _any_ human as a bad egg, including myself and Mr. Wonka. Now, come along, everyone."

"Mr. Wonka," Jenna asked as everyone began to leave the room, "I think I already inquired about this before, but do you have a music room anywhere in the factory?"

"As a matter of fact, we do!" he replied enthusiastically. "We'll show you that room later on in the tour." Jenna smiled at him, and then she walked over to Chris.

"Are you enjoying the tour, Jenna?" Chris asked as the group continued to walk past several more rooms.

"Of course I am," Jenna replied with a grin. "Very much so. Do you have a favorite part of the tour so far?"

"Not really," Chris said. "I'm just enjoying the whole experience. Remember, I've been wanting to see the interior of the factory for ages."

"Me too," Jenna responded. "I don't have a favorite part yet, but I'm sure it will be the music room, or whatever it's called. Who knows, we might end up winning the prize together, you and me. Wouldn't that be fantastic?" Chris nodded in agreement just as Mr. Wonka brought everyone to a halt outside another door, which was labeled: "SPOTTY POWDER".

"Before we carry on," Mr. Wonka announced, "I have one last room to show you. Now, in we go!" He pushed open the big, round door and walked into the room, and everyone else followed him inside.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one! What do you think will happen next? Feel free to comment, as usual. :)**

 **Update: I'm almost done writing the next chapter. It should be published tomorrow or on the weekend, so stay tuned!**


	15. When Pranks Go Wrong

Chapter 15 - When Pranks Go Wrong

 **Author's note: Hello, readers! Sorry that this update took a little longer than I initially anticipated, but here's the next chapter! Thanks for waiting! Now, it's response time.**

 **To everyone who guessed what might happen next, you'll find out soon. (Note that some of your reviews won't be individually responded to since I addressed your questions here.)**

 **Sonny April and agentdemigod, I did intend for the previous chapter to reflect the one in the book.**

 **Linkwonka88, I'm glad you enjoyed the Square Candies that Look Round room! :)**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you enjoyed the rooms that were featured in the previous chapter! I did intend for Tyler to resemble the 1971 Veruca in terms of his** **behavior, warts and all! ;)**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I understand what you were saying. Don't worry; everything from this point on will be brand-new material.**

 **GirlPower54, I'm glad you liked the reference to Veruca, and yes, Daniel is a lot like Mike...**

 **iLuvVerucaSalt, yes, there is something forming between Mindy and Daniel. I intended it to resemble Mike and Violet's fanon relationship. Or is it canon? Not entirely sure.**

 **food 66, cheese bean, marty munster, and turkey 55, those are some good suggestions, but I can't guarantee that I'll include them all.**

 **Tessa, thank you. I'll consider that idea.**

 **qwertyasd, you'll find out whether or not that might happen later. :)**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, the group will be using the Great Glass Elevator soon. In regards to Tyler, you'll find out shortly!**

 **AuroraLanePsngr, I already have Daniel's elimination planned out, so you'll find out later! By the way, is your name a reference to the movie _Passengers_? I love that movie! Now, on with the story! :)**

 **(Note: Credit for the room's design goes to Sonny April.)**

Everyone's eyes widened in amazement as Charlie and Mr. Wonka led the tour group into the Spotty Powder room. In the center of the enormous room was a coiled pipe which was made to look like a snake. The rest of the pipe stretched out from the top of the coil, and it ended in an opening that resembled the gaping jaws of a striking viper. A steady stream of fine, white powder was constantly pouring from it, and it landed in fish-shaped boxes that slowly moved along a conveyor belt below. Like the Solar Swudge, the pipe was glowing and pulsating with different colors.

"Here it is," Mr. Wonka announced enthusiastically, beaming at everyone. "This is Spotty Powder! It's a relatively new product that has revolutionized the lives of students everywhere."

"And in what way?" Tyler's father asked with a rather prominent frown. "I'm assuming this is something I would not approve of, since it's a product that 'revolutionizes' students' lives. How exactly does it do so?"

"Well," Charlie responded, "this stuff is meant to look like sugar, and it even tastes like sugar. But it is most certainly _not_ sugar."

"What does this Spotty Powder do to you, then?" Tyler blurted rudely. "I want to know what it does _right now!_ "

"Be patient!" his father yelled, glaring at him.

"Spotty Powder is what some consider to be the ultimate prank item," Charlie said, and Tyler's face lit up in response. "You would pretend to sprinkle sugar over your breakfast cereal, or onto your pancakes or whatever else you're eating. In just five seconds, your face and neck will be covered in bright-red spots."

"What's the purpose of this?" Tyler asked, eager for more information.

"You see," Mr. Wonka told him, "your parents would look at you and think that you have chicken pox. That way, you'll get to stay home instead of going to school, and the spots will disappear on their own around lunchtime."

"That's what we need for when we have exams!" Jenna said to Chris.

"That's the ideal time to use it," Mr. Wonka replied, smiling at her. "You must exercise caution with how often you use it, though. If you use it too much, your parents will notice and the secret will be revealed." He then turned away from the group and gestured towards a small door at the far end of the room, which was labeled: "MOST SECRET—KEEP OUT!"

"People," Mr. Wonka continued, "do you see this door over here? Behind it is a stairwell which leads downstairs to the machine that manufactures the Spotty Powder." The machine was generating low, humming sounds from below, and the group could feel the floor vibrating ever so slightly beneath their feet.

"So yeah, that's Spotty Powder," Charlie said proudly. "It's such a revolutionary product. Does anyone have any comments to make?"

"Just imagine the possibilities of what I could do with this Spotty Powder!" Tyler exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement. "Not only will I be able to skip school, but I can also use it on my friends, and even on the teachers, just to drive them crazy! Everyone at school will have red spots on their faces! What a fantastic invention! I can't wait to get my hands on it!"

"Absolutely _not_ , son!" Tyler's father shouted before pointing an accusing finger at the two chocolatiers. "As I'm sure you already know, I'm a World Affairs professor at the University of Calgary, and I explicitly forbid you to sell this stuff!"

"Well, Spotty Powder is meant for children, not for adults," Mr. Wonka replied, but Tyler's father only became angrier.

"You don't get it, do you?" he snapped. "I'm his father, and I will not allow my son or anyone else to consume this stuff at home or at school under any circumstances. I know my son! He will sneak this stuff into school with him and give it to his friends!"

"Quite right, Dad," Tyler replied with a mischievous grin. "And if you combine that with the gases from my stink bombs, can you imagine what might happen? It would increase its effectiveness twofold! I'm not an idiot, Dad, and there's nothing you can do to stop me now!" The crazy boy began to sprint towards the door at the back of the room.

"Hey, little boy," Mr. Wonka said calmly, "I wouldn't go down there if I were you. It's a secret area."

"Son, get back here this instant!" Mr. Smith yelled. Tyler, who was oblivious to both Mr. Wonka's and his dad's warnings, threw open the door and began descending the stairs towards the machinery below.

A few seconds later, there came a series of muffled explosions, followed by a loud hissing noise, and above that noise were the sounds of Tyler screaming and coughing. The powder that came out of the snake's mouth was now a bright green color.

"No!" Mr. Smith cried in horror. "What's happening to my son?"

"Oh, don't worry," Mr. Wonka replied. "That was just the sound of the machine's pressure relief valves opening. It seems that Tyler's attempt at pulling the ultimate prank had backfired. He must have thrown his stink bombs into the machine, so now all the Spotty Powder will be expelled through the relief valves, combined with the noxious gases from those stink bombs of his. We'll just have to wait and see what will happen to your son."

"Then save him!" Mr. Smith cried. "Can't you hear him screaming down there?"

"Oh, those aren't screams," Willy said coolly. "They're laughs."

Mr. Smith said nothing as he continued to glare at Mr. Wonka and Charlie, but the sound of drums, guitars, and saxophones were soon heard, and forty Oompa Loompas came marching into the room. Once again, Mr. Wonka and Charlie were dancing to the music, which was reminiscent of 1950's rock n' roll. Even Chris and Jenna decided to join in on the act.

 _"Everyone knows that pranks, big or small,_

 _Can drive those teachers right up the wall._

 _But this little boy is so, so bad_

 _That he makes everybody mad._

 _At the same time, that's a concern,_

 _Because kids will do anything to learn._

 _They'll try to do anything in the classroom,_

 _And the cafeteria, and the bathroom._

 _When the teacher is getting a drink,_

 _'A little Spotty Powder would do nicely,' they think._

 _They pour it in, and wait and see,_

 _How good-looking he will be._

 _Once all their friends have tried it out,_

 _They'll laugh and yell and point and shout._

 _They're covered in spots as red as roses,_

 _On their heads, their arms, and even their noses._

 _'Wait,' you ask, 'but what about Tyler?_

 _The prankster, the joker, the crazy smiler?'_

 _Now that he's covered in Spotty Powder,_

 _He'll look better by the hour!_

 _He'll come out wiser than he was before,_

 _Now that he knows what's in store._

 _He was so obnoxious and immature._

 _Will that change? We don't know for sure._

 _We don't know for sure!"_

Once the song ended, Charlie Bucket knelt down in front of one of the Oompa Loompas.

"I want you to put on a respirator and go downstairs to where the Spotty Powder machine is at once," he instructed. "Once you get there, please escort Tyler to the Cinnamon Farts room. We need to get rid of the stench from his stink bombs as soon as possible. 'Kay?" The Oompa Loompa crossed his arms and nodded before walking towards a rack of safety equipment to get a respirator.

Mindy looked at Charlie and Mr. Wonka with a quizzical expression. "Cinnamon Farts? What the heck are those?"

"Uh, they're candies that taste strongly of cinnamon," Mr. Wonka answered. "They cause whoever eats it to fart uncontrollably, but the person's farts will smell like cinnamon, haha! Isn't that neat?"

"I strongly disapprove of farting in any way or form," Mr. Smith said, "but if it will at least return my son to normal, then so be it."

"Don't worry," Charlie told him. "Tyler will smell _much_ better than normal! However, you must remember that your son was also in a room filled with a big cloud of Spotty Powder from the machine, so there will be some, uh, certain changes to Tyler's appearance for a while."

"So Tyler will be covered in big, red spots, and farting nonstop at the same time?" Daniel asked just as another Oompa Loompa grabbed Mr. Smith's pant leg and led him out of the room. "I _love_ it! My rival has been defeated! Game over, woohoo!" He then began to dance around in victory for several seconds.

"Mr. Wonka, won't this completely halt the Spotty Powder production line?" Chris inquired once Daniel finished celebrating Tyler's demise.

"Actually, no," Willy answered. "You see, this is only the secondary Spotty Powder room, in case the demand for it becomes too high. The main room is deep underground, on the lowest level of the factory."

"Somehow I doubt that," Daniel's father replied, and his son proudly beamed at him. "I have a feeling that this room was constructed specifically for Tyler's demise." Mr. Wonka and Charlie frowned upon hearing his hypothesis.

"Oh, poppycock," Mr. Wonka said quietly.

"Way to go, Dad!" Daniel exclaimed, and his father gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I _knew_ you'd figure it out. You're the smartest father in the world!" Chris and his father exchanged looks at each other before turning back to face Mr. Wonka and Charlie.

"Now," Charlie said to the remaining eight guests, "let's get moving. There's still so much more to see!"

 **Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Which rooms would you like the group to explore next? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts. :)**

 **Update: Sorry I made you wait more than a week for the next chapter. I will be publishing it on Monday, so stay tuned!**


	16. Going Down

Chapter 16 - Going Down

 **Author's note: Hi, everyone! I'm back here with the sixteenth chapter. Before I respond to your reviews: I don't know if any of you are fans of "Super Monkey Ball", but I began writing a story for that fandom yesterday. You can find it on my profile, and it's called "Masters of Monkey Ball". It will only be a "back burner" project for now, since this story and "Roy and the Chocolate Factory" are my current priorities, but feel free to read it and review it. Now, it's response time.**

 **GirlPower54, yup, Tyler is gone! Will he learn his** **lesson? Only I know! As for who will be eliminated next, you'll find out later. :)**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I thought it would be a great idea to include that part from Dahl's draft. The Cinnamon Farts were one of the joke candies mentioned in the Great Glass Elevator, and I'm glad you liked how I used that idea.**

 **Softkitty55, I'm glad you enjoyed the Oompa Loompa song so much! You'll find out shortly what will happen next.**

 **TheIndividualist, he's gone, and the update is here!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, yup, they caught onto Willy's and Charlie's plans, and you'll find out how that will go over the next several chapters! The group will be heading to the Music Conservatory later, don't you worry. I'm glad you liked the Miranda Piker reference as well! In response to your later review, you'll find out who will be eliminated later.**

 **Sonny April, you'll find out sooner or later whether the other guests will voice their concerns about the planned demises. I'm glad you liked how I used your design for the Spotty Powder room, and that you enjoyed the song. As for who will be eliminated next, you'll find out later. :)**

 **agentdemigod, yes, that's why I asked for suggestions! I'm glad you liked the Miranda Piker reference too, and you'll find out who's next later!**

 **Guest, two of those areas will be explored in this chapter. :)**

 **Turrislucidus, yes, it's no wonder that the Spotty Powder chapter was not included in the published book! Not to mention that it also implies that Willy is a cannibal, since Miranda was apparently ground up into powder for other people to consume.**

 **Guest, you'll find out later what** **will happen to Mindy.**

 **dildo daggins and hottie mchotters, sorry, but I don't think I'll be including those rooms in my story.**

 **AuroraLanePsngr, you don't need to apologize at all, because the next chapter is right here, right now! On with the story!**

"Where are we going next?" Chris inquired as the tour group, which was now down to four children and their guardians, exited the Spotty Powder room and continued to walk down the corridor.

"We have some more transportation arranged for us," Charlie replied, motioning towards a pair of glass elevator doors nearby. He pressed a button on the wall, and with a short ping, the doors smoothly parted for the group to enter. "This is the Great Glass Elevator, and it is by far the most efficient way to get around the factory."

Chris' eyes widened in amazement as everyone piled in. Every surface, including the floor and ceiling, was made out of clear glass, and on the right-side wall of the car were hundreds of buttons. As the doors closed, he began to wonder how an elevator made of glass could hold so many people.

"There can't be this many floors," Daniel dryly stated as he scanned every single button.

"How do you know, Mr. Smarty Pants?" Willy scoffed. "This isn't just any ordinary up-and-down elevator, by the way. The Great Glass Elevator can go sideways, longways, slantways, squareways, and any other ways that you can think of! You just press any button, and whoosh, you're off!" He pressed one of the buttons, and the elevator immediately lurched to the right, sending everyone flying. Daniel crashed into Mindy, who crashed into Jenna, who crashed into Chris. Jenna's nose was less than an inch away from his, and he noticed tiny specks of gray and hazel among her blue irises.

"Everyone, get up! Take a look!" Mr. Wonka cried as the elevator travelled through a short, lighted tunnel before it emerged into a new area.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Charlie announced, "welcome to the Coconut Ice Cave!"

Everyone stood up, and Chris' jaw dropped as the elevator slowly travelled through the Coconut Ice Cave. The whole cave was carved out of solid pink-and-white ice, including the jagged walls and ceiling. Fifty Oompa Loompas wearing warm, protective suits were chipping away at the ice with pick axes before shoveling it into a mine cart, which they sent down a track once it was fully loaded.

"As you can see, this is where we get our coconut ice!" Mr. Wonka told everyone. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Mindy was alternating her gaze between Daniel and the spectacular sight before her.

"Isn't it incredible?" she asked Daniel, who simply nodded in response as the Great Glass Elevator passed through another short tunnel.

In the next room, dozens of small, dark-brown cats were playing with toys and walking around. Their soft meowing could be heard through the walls of the Great Glass Elevator.

"Awww, look at them!" Jenna squealed in delight. "They're so cute!"

"Well, thank you," Charlie said. "These are my Cocoa Cats. They're actually sentient candies that you can keep as a pet. Since they're candies, they can be eaten, but don't worry, they won't feel it. Plus, they will instantly regenerate when bitten into, so they will last forever. They don't need to eat, and the best part is that there's no litter to clean up."

"I would love to keep one of those," Mindy's mother said to Mr. Wonka. "Where can I buy one of your Cocoa Cats?"

"Special order only," Mr. Wonka replied, winking at her.

The elevator passed through another short tunnel and into a darkened room where Oompa Loompas were using drills, saws, and plasma torches. They wore yellow hard hats on their heads, as well as bright-orange work uniforms. Some of them wore exoskeleton-like uniforms that allowed them to bend down and carry pallets that weighed almost a ton. There was an orange sign nearby, and it displayed the silhouette of an Oompa Loompa holding a shovel and munching on a Wonka Bar.

"Oh, this room is still under construction," Mr. Wonka said, looking away from everyone else. "I can't tell you what it's for."

Some of the Oompa Loompas in the room noticed the elevator passing by, and they waved at the group before returning to their work.

The elevator then entered a dark shaft and it suddenly stopped, causing the group to crash into the wall again. Before everyone could catch their breath, it plummeted four-hundred feet, and everyone floated towards the ceiling only to be subjected to a painful landing once the elevator stopped falling.

"Are you okay, Jenna?" Chris asked her once everyone recovered from the rough landing, with bruises making themselves known. Jenna nodded and stroked her red hair for a few seconds before returning to an upright position.

"Where in the world are we?" Daniel asked, looking at his surroundings in confusion. The elevator was parked in the middle of a labyrinth of steel rails that stretched out in all directions.

"It's time for one of you to pick a room now," Charlie said. "Who wants to go first?" Chris eagerly raised his hand. "All right, Chris, go ahead and press a button. It could be any button you wish."

Chris scanned the entire wall of buttons until he found one that was labeled: "ROCK CANDY MINE". He had to stand on the tips of his toes to reach it.

"Great choice!" Charlie exclaimed once he pressed it, and the elevator engaged itself with one of the rails. It took a sharp turn squareways before accelerating towards its destination. "That's one of my favorite rooms."

"I've seen lots of movies and TV shows involving mines," Jenna told Chris as the Great Glass Elevator sped past several other rooms in the blink of an eye. "And where there's a mine, there are usually mine carts! Hopefully this means we'll go on a wild ride!"

Chris grinned at her. "I think you mean the wild ride that we missed the first time around," he replied, "when we were in the raft and the track was switched to avoid the drop."

"You'll just have to wait and see what lies in store," Mr. Wonka told them. "Ah, and I see that we're approaching our destination already."

The elevator stopped moving squareways, and it slowly descended into a dark mine shaft that was lit by flickering, incandescent light bulbs.

"Uh, weren't those bulbs phased out many, many years ago?" Daniel asked. "That's a huge waste of energy, and considering how high-tech the rest of your factory is, why you haven't changed those bulbs yet is completely beyond me."

"Sorry, I didn't hear a single word you said," Mr. Wonka told him as the Great Glass Elevator continued to descend. "Your mumbling is _really_ getting on my nerves."

"Mr. Wonka," Daniel's father spoke, "I work for Eversource, and I'm here to tell you that my son has a perfectly valid point. If you said it was one of your favorite areas, then why didn't you or your Oompa Loompas change those bulbs thirty years ago?"

"Well, there's no time to discuss that now, because we have arrived!" Mr. Wonka said. The doors slid open with that little "ding" sound they always make, and everyone stepped out into an enormous cavern that was filled with thousands of gigantic sugar crystals, which came in every single color imaginable.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Charlie announced as he spread his arms wide, "welcome to the Rock Candy Mine! It's the richest deposit of rock candy in the entire world. No other factory in the world picks its rock candy from a mine."

"How deep does it go?" Chris asked, and Charlie smiled at him.

"Oh, it's deep," he replied. "Ten-thousand feet deep, to be exact! It is so deep that we even get our gold and other metals from this very mine. For example, your Golden Tickets. The gold that we used to make them was extracted here."

Everyone had awestruck looks on their faces as the two chocolatiers began to lead the group towards a dark, narrow tunnel.

"Wait!" Mr. Wonka suddenly exclaimed, and everyone stood still. "I almost forgot, we need to get your safety equipment first. Come over here." He led the guests over to a nearby shelf which held dozens of bright-orange miner hats.

"Children's and Oompa Loompa hats are over here," Charlie said, gesturing to the left side of the shelf. He gestured to the right side of the shelf as he said, "Adult-sized hats are over here." He and Mr. Wonka put on two adult-sized hats, as did the rest of the parents. The remaining children grabbed their hats, and as soon as they placed their hats on their heads, the lamps turned on automatically. Their yellow beams of light illuminated the ground in front of them up to fifty feet away.

"Now, come along," Mr. Wonka told everyone, and he began to lead the way into the narrow tunnel, which twisted and turned until it ended in a cavern, which was no less spectacular than the first one. The Oompa Loompas here were using pneumatic jackhammers and drills to extract the rock candy crystals from the wall and break it up into small pieces. They shoveled those pieces into a cart, and once it was full, it was sent down a narrow track and into a pitch-black tunnel.

"As you can see, this is how we extract our rock candy from beneath the earth!" Charlie shouted over the earsplitting noise from the jackhammers. "Those mine carts lead towards a lift which brings the rock candy up to the surface for further processing inside the factory!"

"And over here," Mr. Wonka said, gesturing towards another track, "is the track which the Oompa Loompas ride to descend further into the mine! Speaking of which, let's ride that one now!"

On the track was a bright-yellow train with five cars, and each car had two seats abreast.

"Uh, Mr. Wonka," Daniel said, "I noticed that this train holds ten people, and that's exactly how many people are in our group right now. I bet you were planning—"

"MUMBLER!" Mr. Wonka suddenly shouted, nearly causing Chris to jump a foot in the air. "Seriously, I cannot understand a single word you're saying!"

"All aboard the Rock Candy Express, everyone!" Charlie exclaimed, and the group proceeded to take their seats. Mr. Wonka and Charlie took their seats in the front row.

"You can sit behind us," Charlie said to Chris and Jenna, gesturing towards the second car. Jenna shook her head in response.

"I'd rather sit in the very back, where the ride will be the most intense," Jenna told him.

"Well, then I'll invite two of the grown-ups to sit behind us," Mr. Wonka replied. Of course, he chose Chris' and Jenna's fathers to sit behind him, and they happily took their seats. There was no way he would allow Daniel or his father to take those seats.

"Now _this_ is what I've been waiting for all along, other than the music room," Jenna told Chris as they took their seats at the very back of the train, and they buckled their seat belts. "I bet it will be crazy."

Once everyone's seat belts were buckled, two Oompa Loompas walked up and down both sides of the train, lowering big, red lap bars onto each person's abdomen. Once everyone was properly secured, an Oompa Loompa pressed a green button on the ride's control panel, and the pneumatic brakes that held the train in place were released.

"Here we go!" Jenna cried in excitement as the train slowly moved forward, and it slithered into a pitch-black tunnel. The walls were painted in such a dark shade of black that they absorbed the beams of light from everyone's helmets.

"How do we know where we're going?" Chris' father asked as the train began to accelerate ever so slightly.

"We don't," Mr. Wonka said mysteriously. "There's no knowing where we're going. Switch on the lights!"

The lights dimly flickered on just in time for the train to plunge down a steep, twisting drop. Everyone screamed as the train continued its downward journey, the walls of the narrow tunnel whizzing just above their heads at breakneck speed. Chris, Jenna, and Mindy raised their arms in the air, enjoying the ride as it went faster and faster.

The tracks bottomed out, and the train sped across a long, narrow bridge that was suspended with cables, with nothing below but a huge pit that went thousands of feet down.

"Oh no," Daniel said nervously. "I hate heights!" Mindy playfully nudged him towards the side of the car, and he let out a shrill scream. "Stop it! I'm warning you!"

The train reached the other side of the bridge in mere seconds, and it rushed through a wide tunnel that was lit with glowing rock candy crystals of every shape, size, and color. It then entered a darkened room where a laser light show was taking place, and without warning, the train went through two barrel rolls that flipped everyone upside down.

"This is terrific!" Chris shouted to Jenna over the noise of the air rushing over their heads. Jenna's hair was flying out behind her, and all the while, she had a huge smile on her face as the train continued to drop, twist, and turn through several different caverns like a missile gone haywire.

Before long, the train slowed to a crawl inside a final, brightly-lit tunnel, and it came to a stop at the bottom of the ride.

"We hope you enjoyed your ride on the Rock Candy Express," a recorded voice sounded from the loudspeakers. "Please push up on your lap bars and exit to your right, and enjoy the rest of your tour."

"Well, you did it, Dan," Mindy said, grinning as she and Daniel exited the ride. Daniel, however, looked less than impressed.

"You nearly pushed me over the edge on that roller coaster death machine, Mindy!" he yelled, glaring at her. "How dare you!"

"It was all in the name of fun," she replied, taking Daniel's hand and tightly squeezing it. "You were tightly restrained in place, so there's no way you'd have fallen out. It is not a 'death machine' by any means. Besides, you had to have experienced more adrenaline than you ever will by designing or playing those video games of yours." In response, Daniel scowled at her.

"That was an awesome ride!" Jenna exclaimed once she and Chris stepped out of the train's rearmost car. "What a rush!"

"I loved it, too!" Chris exclaimed, and he gave her a high-five before Mr. Wonka and Charlie turned to address the group.

"Now, everyone," Mr. Wonka said, pointing to a pair of elevator doors, "we will be entering the Great Glass Elevator to continue our tour." He pressed the button on the wall and waited for the elevator to arrive. "If you could hand over your hats to me, I'd appreciate that." One by one, the guests removed their orange miner hats from their heads, switched off the lamps, and passed them to Mr. Wonka, who placed each one on a nearby shelf.

"How far down are we?" Jenna asked him just as the Great Glass Elevator arrived.

"We've descended about three-thousand feet by this point," he replied once the doors opened, "but since we rode the Great Glass Elevator deep underground to get here, I'd say three-thousand five-hundred feet underground is more accurate."

"Wow," Chris said in amazement. "Imagine if we had gone all the way down to the very bottom of the mine!"

"It's dangerous down there," Charlie told him. "There's nothing but tons of explosives at the bottom, which the Oompa Loompas use to blast the ground apart and create a tunnel. They have to detonate the explosives remotely, because if anything bad happens, whoever is down there will be a goner, instantly." Chris shuddered at the thought of it.

"Chris, my boy," Mr. Davidson told him, "you don't need to worry about that right now. Just follow everyone into the elevator so that they could continue the tour with us."

Chris nodded as he and his father joined the group in the Great Glass Elevator. Once inside, Mr. Wonka reached for a button on the wall, pushing it a second later.

"Come on, let's boogie!" he exclaimed as the doors closed, and the elevator lurched slantways as it began the journey towards its next destination.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to review and comment, and stay tuned for what will happen next! :)**

 **Update: Wow, we're already a month into 2017! I took a little break from writing, but now I'm back and I'm starting to write the next chapter, and I'll have it published sometime next week! Hang in there, everyone!**

 **Update # 2: I'm so sorry I made you guys wait so long. The next chapter will be published at the beginning of the week (either Feb. 19 or 20, or possibly 21.) I just have to come up with song lyrics (hint hint). :)**


	17. X-tra Sour Gobstoppers

Chapter 17 - X-tra Sour Gobstoppers

 **Author's note: Hi, everyone! I am terribly sorry I made you wait almost a month for a new chapter! Better late than never, I guess. I did receive a lot of reviews for chapter 16 in the meantime, and I got so many that I can't address each one individually, since that would make the author's note far too long. For those who commented on my story, I will thank you all from the bottom of my heart for doing so, and please know that I took the time to read each and every one of your comments.**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993 did have a few questions for me, so I'll respond to each of them here, in case any of my other readers wanted to know this information.**

 **1\. There should be about six or seven chapters remaining until the end of the story. Maybe more, maybe less.**

 **2\. As for whether or not Chris and Jenna might kiss, well, you'll have to wait and find out! ;)**

 **3\. The losers will be revealed at the end of the tour, and you will see what they'll look like. Do you _really_ think you wouldn't like to see what happened to Tyler? :)**

 **4\. Chris and Jenna might win together, or they might not. Only I know!**

 **5\. Yes, there will be a victory song for the winner(s). I hope that answered all of your questions. Now, on with the** **story!**

After about a minute of traveling in all directions, the Great Glass Elevator came to a sudden stop.

"Now," Mr. Wonka said as the doors slid open, "we're about to enter another corridor, so follow me and Charlie."

This corridor looked like it could have been from a sci-fi movie. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of shiny black tiles, and the spaces between each tile were glowing and pulsating with various colors, creating a grid of multicolored lines all the way down the corridor. The doors were round, like in the other corridors, and they had glowing labels on them. The two chocolatiers smiled as they noticed the awestruck looks on the tour group's faces.

"This is the newest corridor that has been built," Charlie stated. "Construction ended just three weeks ago."

"Of course, this also means that there are brand-new products being made in each of these rooms," Mr. Wonka said. "I will let you know that some of them haven't yet been finished."

"You're just saying that to get one of us eliminated, right?" Daniel asked. "And I know you'll accuse me of mumbling, so don't even try." Mr. Wonka faintly smiled at him upon hearing his last sentence.

"What's this special prize, and who gets it?" Mindy inquired, twirling her Everlasting Gobstopper between her fingers.

"The best kind of prize is a SUR-prize, haha!" Mr. Wonka replied, and Mindy responded by glaring at him. She put the Everlasting Gobstopper back into her mouth, not saying another word.

"Which of these rooms will we explore next?" Jenna asked as she scanned the glowing labels on each door.

"Jenna," Charlie said, "I'll give you the opportunity to pick a room this time. Unfortunately, the Music Conservatory is not in this corridor since it was one of the first rooms to be built in the entire factory. I promise that you'll see that room later."

"Let me think here," she said quietly, putting a finger to her lips. A few seconds later, she pointed towards a door that was labeled: "ROCK CANDY CLARINETS". "Maybe we could go there."

"Well, I think you made a very good choice," Mr. Wonka said as he led the tour group towards the Rock Candy Clarinets room. The faint sound of clarinet music could be heard through the big, round door. He turned the vault-like handle and the door effortlessly swung open.

Inside the room, twenty Oompa Loompas were sitting behind a row of music stands, and they were blowing into unusual-looking clarinets. The mouthpieces were standard, made out of black plastic, but the rest of the instrument appeared to be made out of different kinds of colorful rock candy.

Off to the left side of the area was a machine with hundreds of pipes connected to it, and a brand-new rock candy clarinet emerged from the machine every ten seconds. Each instrument was carefully transferred by a robotic arm to another machine, which disassembled each clarinet so that the five sections could be packaged into its case. A standard plastic mouthpiece and a box of wooden reeds were included as well, and the robot closed and latched the case before passing it to a waiting Oompa Loompa for testing.

"As you can see, these are my new rock candy clarinets," Mr. Wonka told everyone. "They need to be made from rock candy because it's a strong material. Each clarinet also undergoes a thorough treatment process to ensure that it repels saliva, because saliva buildup is the bane of every clarinetist's existence."

"That's one of them," Jenna said, "but I'm sure that the _real_ problem occurs whenever a reed is chipped or broken."

"Yes," Willy said, "and that, too."

"Are they edible?" Mindy asked.

"No, unfortunately," Charlie replied. "The rock candy used to make them is so hard that you will break all your teeth off. You could maybe try melting it to soften the candy, but that would just be a waste of a quality instrument. Now, let's move along." Everyone exited the room and continued to walk down the corridor.

"Mr. Wonka," Mindy asked as she walked with the others, "where are the Gobstopper rooms? I want to know."

"Well," he answered, "most of those rooms are in another section of the factory. Although, we do have a new kind of Gobstopper that has just finished the testing phase. That room is coming up."

Before long, the group stopped outside a door that was labeled: "X-TRA SOUR GOBSTOPPERS".

"Oh, yes, there _is_ a Gobstopper room here!" Mindy squealed in excitement as she read the label. "Sour candies are the best!"

"All the better, then!" Charlie exclaimed, giving her a high-five before he proceeded to open the big, round door. The group followed him and Mr. Wonka inside.

In the center of the room was a gleaming, silver machine that was shaped like a rocket, and dozens of orange spheres dropped out of its nozzles and onto a wide conveyor belt. Mr. Wonka took one of the orange spheres from the conveyor to show everyone.

"Now, everyone, this is our newest type of Gobstopper," Mr. Wonka told the group. "They aren't quite like the Sour Stingers from the Prototype Candy Testing Room, but they still pack a heck of a wallop. The Sour Stingers are for your enemies, but these X-tra Sour Gobstoppers are deemed to be safe for personal enjoyment. While most of them are perfectly good, there's still the odd Gobstopper that may cause some adverse effects. Don't worry, the chances of sucking on a defective Gobstopper are next to none. Mindy, I'm sure you want to try one, right?"

"Of course I do!" she replied excitedly. She took her Everlasting Gobstopper out of her mouth and handed it to her mother. "Take great care of it, please," she told her. Mr. Wonka handed the X-tra Sour Gobstopper to Mindy, who twirled it between her fingers, examining its smooth, shiny surface. "Mr. Wonka, you said this is supposed to be safe, correct?"

"Almost certainly, as in ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent," Mr. Wonka told her. "There's no need to be overly worried."

"Okay, here goes," she said, and she put it in her mouth and began to suck on it. Daniel nervously watched her as the seconds passed.

"How is it, honey?" Mindy's mother asked, and she was answered by a look of delight on her daughter's face.

"Wow, it's amazing!" Mindy exclaimed. "It tastes like tangerine!"

"She loves any kind of citrus fruit," Mrs. Bell told Willy and Charlie, who both smiled and nodded in response. "Of course, she loves Gobstoppers as well, so this is the perfect one for her!"

"Wait, it's beginning to change," Mindy said. "Now it tastes like lime!"

"Keep at it, my girl," Mindy's mother said in encouragement, gently placing her hand on Mindy's shoulder. "I can tell you're enjoying it! It's too bad this one isn't everlasting, though."

"Hold on, it's changing again, to my favorite flavor!" Mindy squealed a few seconds later. "Lemon, my favorite fruit in the whole, wide world! What a fantastic invention, Mr. Wonka! What will—"

"Uh, Mindy?" her mother suddenly asked, looking concerned. "Did you do something to your nose earlier? It looks yellow, and I don't remember seeing it that way."

"I don't think I did anything to my nose," she replied, touching it. "What are you talking about?"

"Your whole nose is turning yellow," Daniel said worriedly. "Mindy, now your eyes are yellow! What's going on? Is this another one of your tricks, Mr. Wonka? I'm onto you!"

"Well, I did tell you that there's a slim chance they might be defective," Mr. Wonka told him. "I guess I just so happened to pick a bad one from the conveyor there. I'm terribly sorry, everyone."

Everyone watched as Mindy's face and hair took on a yellow hue, and then it spread to her arms and legs. She looked at her hands as they slowly turned yellow, and she looked at her mother in fright.

"Can you help me, please?" she asked with a trembling voice, and everyone, except for Charlie and Mr. Wonka, stared at her in horror as her clothes began to turn more yellow than they already were. A few seconds later, she began to swell up, and everyone instinctively backed away.

"Oh my god!" Jenna exclaimed. "She's swelling up!"

"Like a lemon," Chris added, linking the sudden weight gain to the Gobstopper that she was sucking on just a minute ago.

"I really hope that she'll be okay," Daniel whispered to his father as Mindy continued to swell to the size of a small living room.

Mr. Sparkman looked down towards his son and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure Mindy will be just fine," he said soothingly, and then he glared at Mr. Wonka as if to say, _I know you did this, and you'll pay the price someday when you're found guilty of child abuse._

It didn't take long for Mindy to stop swelling, and once she did, she resembled an enormous lemon that was at least ten feet tall. Her mother was gaping at the sight of it, unable to say a single word.

"Back in the Prototype Candy Testing Room," Charlie said, "I tried it on thirty Oompa Loompas and they all became ten-foot tall lemons. Honestly, this was a freak accident, since they were approved for general consumption last week. I guess there must have been a few lemons among them. Pun not intended, by the way."

"Charlie Bucket," Mindy's mother said, "I can't have a lemon as a daughter. How is she supposed to compete in her gymnastics tournaments?"

"We have a solution," Charlie told her, "and it does not involve putting her in a county fair."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

"You might have heard about a girl named Violet Beauregarde, from the previous tour," Mr. Wonka replied. "She swelled up into a ten-foot tall blueberry, which was very similar to Mindy's situation. One of the other ticket winners, Veruca Salt, said Mrs. Beauregarde can put Violet in a county fair. It was actually quite funny, to be honest."

Just then, a techno beat filled the room, and an army of Oompa Loompas emerged from a doorway at the back of the room. They began to surround Mindy, linking their arms to form a circle around her as they began to sing a hip-hop number.

 _"Breaking records is quite a feat,_

 _But not when it involves a certain treat._

 _That Gobstopper you've had for years and years,_

 _Had only managed to bring us all to tears._

 _I hope you realize that it's very wrong,_

 _To be sucking on that all day long._

 _So here's to poor Mindy Bell,_

 _Encased inside a citrus shell._

 _She's giving off a lemony smell,_

 _And everyone can tell._

 _She will be yellow, but also mellow,_

 _And that should bring her back to Earth._

 _But first, she must return_

 _To her original girth,_

 _And she will be just like before,_

 _But a bit wiser for the wear._

 _Here's to poor Mindy Bell,_

 _Encased inside a citrus shell._

 _She's going to be all nice and well,_

 _And everyone will tell._

 _She's going to be all nice and well,_

 _And everyone will tell._

 _Everyone, oh, everyone will tell!_

 _Everyone will tell!"_

Once the music faded away, Mr. Wonka made a trilling sound to get the attention of the Oompa Loompas.

"I want you all to roll Mindy down the corridor and into the Great Glass Cargo Elevator," he told them. "Press the button to take her to the Juicing Room as soon as you can. 'Kay?" The Oompa Loompas nodded and began to roll Mindy out of the room.

"There's _another_ elevator?" Chris asked. "Did I hear you correctly?"

Charlie nodded. "The Great Glass Cargo Elevator is a bigger version of the Great Glass Elevator," he replied. "Then again, we do need to transport large objects around the factory every once in a while, so that's how we do it." Just as he finished his sentence, Mindy's mother walked over to him.

"What is this Juicing Room you're talking about?" she asked with concern. "What's gonna happen to my daughter inside there?"

"They're gonna squeeze her," Charlie replied while doing a pinching motion with his thumb and index finger. "Like a little pimple! They have to squeeze all of that juice out of her immediately." Mindy's mother stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Will she stay yellow forever?" she asked, her voice sounding more panicked. "She'll be the laughingstock of Phoenix if that's the case! No, of the state of Arizona! Or even the entire country or possibly the world!"

"I highly doubt it," Willy said, laughing. "Look at the others. Mindy's case won't be nearly as bad as Antonio's, Yuna's, or Tyler's. Since Violet's mishap, the Juicing Room has been upgraded to restore the original skin color of whoever needs to be juiced. It worked on the Oompa Loompas, and it will work on Mindy. Trust me." Daniel let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this, as did Mindy's mother, who ran towards Charlie and Willy with outstretched arms.

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" she cried with joy, and she awkwardly embraced them both before letting go. Willy and Charlie smiled at her as a nearby Oompa Loompa promptly escorted her out of the room.

"I'm very glad that Mindy will be okay," Daniel said, "but you're not off the hook just yet, Mr. Wonka. I'm still sure that something is up here."

"At least he got rid of Tyler earlier," Jenna told him, "so you should be thankful for that."

"Exactly," Chris replied as he gently took Jenna's hand. In a much quieter voice, he added, "Hopefully it will be narrowed down to just me and you in the end. Who knows, we might even _both_ win, since we haven't caused any trouble during the tour."

"I am so happy our children are getting along as well as they are," Chris' father said to Jenna's father. "By the way, I'm a big fan of Wormhole Citadel, as well."

"Well, I'm pleased to know that you and your son are not only fans of Willy Wonka," Jenna's father replied with a warm smile. "It's truly an honor for me to be talking to one of my fans. Metalheads are truly some of the best people around, and I'm glad that you and Chris share our love of music."

"Everyone," Charlie said to the remaining three guests and their guardians, "we'd better press on. There's still lots to see."

 **Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed this (long overdue) chapter. Let me know what your thoughts and opinions are, and stay tuned for what will happen next! :)**

 **Update (March 17): Sorry I'm taking so long here! As some of you may know, I returned home from Cuba last Sunday, and I had an excellent vacation. I've been mostly editing my photos that I took, along with my shifts at work, so I haven't had much time to write. The next chapter is being written, however, so it should be ready by the end of next week, or in two weeks at the very latest, depending on my schedule. Sorry about the wait, but I'm sure it will be worth it. :)**

 **Update: (April 16): I'm terribly sorry about the wait. I will publish the next chapter in 3 days at the most.**


	18. Sour Dragons

Chapter 18 - Sour Dragons

 **Author's note: Hi everyone! Long time no see! I'm terribly sorry that I made you guys wait for all this time. As some of you know, I went on a vacation to Cuba last month, and I spent the last few weeks practicing for a piano exam (which I got 88% on!), so that's why I was taking so long. Now that I'm done, I can resume my normal writing schedule, and I'll be updating the story much more often from now on. I was actually writing not one, but two chapters over the last week or so, and this is the first of those chapters. dragonserpent18 requested that I write this chapter, using his idea for the Sour Dragons to promote his upcoming story, "New Faces". Now, time for me to respond to your reviews, and the first one is from none other than dragonserpent18!**

 **dragonserpent18, thanks for the criticism regarding Mindy's elimination. I'm sorry if it appears that she left the story too quickly. However, I know you won't be disappointed with this chapter, since I sent it to you via PM for feedback (which I greatly appreciated, so thank you).**

 **Sonny April, I've been noticing that problem myself, to be honest with you. Don't worry, the rest of the story will be much different from the movie. :)**

 **TheIndividualist, Daniel will still be around for about two or three more chapters. And you don't have to wait any longer, because the update has finally arrived!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, I noticed you left a few reviews, so I'll respond to them all here. First off, as you know, I fixed the error with Wormhole Citadel's name in the previous chapter. Second, Daniel has indeed lightened up a bit. Then again, that often happens when you begin to form a relationship with someone. In regards to his test, you'll just have to wait and find out!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, see the reply I sent to Sonny April. I'm glad you enjoyed the Rock Candy Clarinets and the new corridor, by the way.**

 **Softkitty55, your prediction was correct! I'm glad you enjoyed the song. It was my intention for Chris' and Jenna's dads to get to know each other. By the way, Jenna's dad is the guitarist of Wormhole Citadel, so I think you meant to say that Chris' dad is a big fan! Of course, you'll find out who the winner (or winners) will be later!**

 **agentdemigod, thanks for the compliment! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter as much as you did. Hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait for you as well!**

 **TheDisnerd, it pleases me to know that you're enjoying the songs so far! I was never one for writing lyrics, so I'm happy that you like them. It means a lot to me. :)**

 **GirlPower54, I know that I could have fleshed out Mindy's demise a bit more. You'll find out who the next person to be eliminated will be in a few chapters.**

 **vcvcv, I don't think I'll be including chocolate covered spinach (if I were Mr. Wonka, I'd say, "Ew, no one would buy it"), but I will be including the chocolate volcano later, since it seems like a great idea. Now, on with the story!**

 **(Note: Credit for this chapter goes to dragonserpent18.)**

Mr. Wonka and Charlie Bucket led the remaining guests down another corridor until they suddenly stopped beside a large, round door. The glowing label above it read: "SOUR DRAGONS".

"Come on everyone," Willy said as he pushed the door open, gesturing for the tour group to enter the room.

"Oh my gosh, look!" Jenna exclaimed once she, Chris, and Daniel walked inside. The room was enormous, and the ceiling was so high that the group could not see it. Standing in front of them were seven large, gummy dragons which came in all the colors of the rainbow. Their translucent bodies were coated in sour powder.

"These are Sour Dragons, everyone," Mr. Wonka said once everyone had entered the room. "Remember the Cocoa Cats you saw while riding the Great Glass Elevator, and how you could keep them as a pet? Well, these came before the Cocoa Cats, and they were one of our first attempts to give our candies lifelike qualities. I made the first full-size Sour Dragon for a candy-making competition many years ago, and everyone was amazed when they watched it move its head in different directions and even walk for short distances. Of course, they have evolved since then, and the latest incarnation, which you're seeing here, can actually fly."

"Will you allow us to get up close?" Chris asked, taking one step towards the red dragon.

"Of course you can, Chris," Charlie answered with a smile. "Same goes with the rest of you." Jenna, Daniel, and the three remaining adults walked towards the group of dragons. Daniel stood beside the yellow dragon, and Chris was taking a bite out of the red dragon's right wing. The dragon began to lie down, and it turned its head towards Chris.

"By the way," Mr. Wonka said, "when you begin eating one of these dragons, the dragon will offer you a chance to ride it. So go ahead, Chris. Mount your dragon."

"Wait, Chris!" Jenna exclaimed just before Chris began climbing onto its back. "I'll go with you."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked her with uncertainty. "I think there's only enough room for one person on these creatures."

"Come on," Jenna pleaded. "We're not fat by any means. I'm sure there's room for both of us." She watched as Daniel climbed onto the yellow dragon's back, and it began to fly around the room. "Let's do it, Chris."

Charlie smiled as Chris began to mount the red dragon, using the spines on its long, slender neck as grab handles. Jenna sat behind him, putting her arms firmly around his waist.

"Ready, Jenna?" Chris asked her. He looked over his shoulder to confirm that she was safely seated, and the dragon leaped up to take to the skies. Jenna's grip on Chris tightened as the dragon soared higher and higher, and in just seconds, they were nearly one-hundred feet in the air.

"Chris, look how high we are," Jenna told him, and they both turned their heads to look down. Mr. Wonka, Charlie, and the other adults in the group looked as small as ants, and Daniel's dragon was circling around and around, far below them.

"Why isn't Daniel up here with us?" Chris asked Jenna, but he suddenly remembered why. "Never mind, right. He's scared of heights."

Jenna leaned forward and rested her head on Chris' shoulder, and he could feel her soft, red hair tickling his neck.

"At least we're not scared," Jenna whispered into Chris' ear. "I don't think we should keep everyone waiting for too long, so we should land the dragon."

"And how would you like me to do that, Jen?" Chris asked with a sinister-looking grin on his face. "Nice and easy, or quick and terrifying? Your choice."

"I'll choose quick and terrifying," Jenna whispered before kissing Chris on the cheek. He gasped in surprise, and he whipped his head around to look at Jenna, who was giggling at his reaction. While doing so, however, he involuntarily jerked his arms, and that pointed the dragon's head sharply downward.

"Hold on!" Chris shouted, and Jenna tightly held onto his waist as the dragon began to dive steeply towards the ground like a bomb. The air was lashing at them with gale-force strength, drowning out their screams. Just as they were about to crash-land to the ground, Chris sharply pulled up on its head, bringing the dragon to a horizontal position, and they glided down to a feather-soft landing. Daniel made an equally smooth landing with his dragon a few seconds later, but of course, from a much lower height.

"Wow," Jenna said, fixing her hair once she and Chris dismounted from their dragon. "That was quick and terrifying, all right. Let's do it again!" Chris, on the other hand, was standing still, the memory of Jenna's kiss playing over and over in his mind like a broken record.

"I actually enjoyed myself this time," Daniel said proudly, snapping Chris out of his thoughts. "That was awesome! Then again, I only flew my dragon about five feet off the ground." The group burst out laughing upon hearing this. "Well, it's a start, okay? It's not like I completely chickened out."

"I'm very glad you guys had a good time," Charlie said, "but we must press on. Come along, everyone." And with that, he and Willy led the group out of the room to continue the tour.

 **Author's note: Once again, I do apologize for taking so long to update. I hope it was worth it for the rest of you. As I said, I'm already writing the next chapter, which will be an idea that TheIndividualist came up with. I'm not telling you what it is, of course, so stay tuned to find out! :D**


	19. The Quality Control Lab

Chapter 19 - The Quality Control Lab

 **Author's note: Hi, readers! Sorry I took longer to update than expected, but here I am with the nineteenth chapter! This chapter was TheIndividualist's idea, who said I should make a room like the Devious Delights room featured in "Second time round". This won't quite be like that room, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it nonetheless. Now, it's response time!**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I'm very glad you enjoyed the chapter, and you'll see what this chapter has in store very soon!**

 **cheesecake4life, I'm glad you liked the Sour Dragons. No one will be eliminated in this chapter, but someone will be gone in the next chapter.**

 **TheIndividualist, you'll find out shortly! :)**

 **Sonny April, I completely understand. Shipping is actually not my priority when it comes to writing stories. If there turns out to be shipping, it's just what naturally ends up happening when I write. Don't ask me why, though, because I don't know the answer. :P**

 **Softkitty55, I'm very glad you enjoyed this chapter. You can thank dragonserpent18 for coming up with the Sour Dragons. You'll find out what will happen next very soon!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, yup, they finally kissed. You'll find out the answer to everyone's questions over the next few chapters, don't you worry! As for your second review, I see you picked up on the relationship patterns, and you guessed them correctly. Good job. :)**

 **dragonserpent18, thanks! I always like it when people tell me exactly what I did right (or wrong), and I'm glad you enjoyed the kiss.**

 **Tristan, you'll find out who will be eliminated in the next chapter.**

 **agentdemigod, yup, you can say things are... escalating between them. :D And I'm glad you enjoyed reading about dragonserpent18's creation. You'll find out what's in store for the group shortly.**

 **mr kelly, those will be featured later. :)**

 **jack starkiller, unfortunately, the group will not see the Whipped Cream room in this story, since they did not go down the river in that direction.**

 **mr harry, I already fulfilled your request. Just go onto my profile and read "A Fizzy Misadventure". Thanks for the idea! :)**

 **rivers, I'm not sure if there will be a sequel for this story, but there will be one for "Where All the Bad Nuts Go"!**

 **55.00, I'm not sure what you meant by that. :P Now, on with the story!**

"Wow, I still can't believe that it's boiled down to just the three of us," Chris said as he, Jenna, and Daniel followed Charlie and Mr. Wonka down the corridor. The kids' fathers lagged behind them, peering into each new room that they passed. "Even if I was eliminated early, I'd still be grateful that I got to explore the factory in the first place. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that is, unless the same person wins a Golden Ticket twice. I mean, can you imagine if the brats from way back in 2005 won another ticket? Or possibly their children? I know that was way before our time, but seriously, I'm happy to be here." He turned to look at Jenna and Daniel, but he noticed that the tech-obsessed boy was subtly glaring at him. "Daniel, is there something wrong?"

"No," he said quietly, turning his head away. "It's, uh, nothing."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked with a slightly stern tone in his voice. "Something seems off to me, like you're trying to hide something."

"No!" Daniel replied, a little too loudly. "I'm fine, okay? Go back to what you were saying before."

"I can't until you tell me the truth!" Chris shouted, causing everyone else to jump at the sound of his voice. The entire group stood still as they watched the two boys arguing with each other. "Please," Chris said quietly, "tell me what the problem is, right this instant."

"No, I won't!" Daniel yelled, and his father quickly ran over to silence him.

Chris growled, "Please, Da—" but he was silenced as he caught his father and Jenna staring at him. Jenna sighed and walked up to him.

"Chris, just give it a rest, okay?" she told him while gently squeezing his hand. "I know you like to ask questions, but you don't need to be probing excessively." Chris said nothing for several seconds, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Is everything all right?" Charlie asked with concern. Chris quickly nodded in response. "That's good. I want the two of you to apologize to each other so that we can continue our tour." The two boys turned to face each other.

"Daniel," Chris said calmly, "I'm sorry for my outburst. Please forgive me, okay?"

"Apology accepted," Daniel replied. "I'm sorry for yelling as well, but I really, really don't want to talk about this right now. Let's just keep walking."

"Thank you," Charlie said, smiling. "Now, onward!"

The group continued to stroll past more round doors until Charlie broke the silence a few minutes later.

"Ladies, er, _lady_ , and gentlemen," he announced as the group arrived at another round door, "we have decided to give you an exclusive look at the factory's quality control lab. This is another one of the factory's most important rooms. You may go and look around at the testing stations, but there's still far too much to see, and we won't have nearly enough time to explore it all."

"Mr. Bucket," Chris' father asked, "are we allowed to sample anything inside there?"

"Well, of course," Charlie answered with a grin. "It's not like they're brand-new prototype recipes, so you don't need to worry. They're the Wonka candies that people all around the world know and love. Don't forget, the Oompa Loompas are required to take samples as part of their job, so rest assured, they're completely safe for human consumption." He turned towards Mr. Wonka, who nodded in response. "So, shall we?"

"Wait," Mr. Wonka said, "remember that we have to pass through the security system first." The tour group had surprised looks on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Jenna's father asked. "I don't remember seeing any other rooms with security systems in this factory."

"Well, this is an especially important room," Willy answered. "The Inventing Room's security measures are even more sophisticated. This may seem shocking, but back when I conducted the first tour of the factory, there was hardly a security system in place for this room and the Inventing Room. It was due to the awareness of certain world events that we decided to beef it up."

"All right, in we go," Charlie said, placing his palm directly on the vault-like handle, which had a handprint scanner built into it. A green blade of light went from his wrist to his fingertips and then back, and the handle itself blinked green three times.

"Handprint registered. Are you Charlie Bucket?" an automated female voice asked.

"Yes, I am," Charlie replied.

"Is there anyone else with you?" the voice asked again.

"Yes," Charlie answered. "Willy Wonka, as well as our tour guests."

"Your identity has been verified," the voice replied. "Access granted."

"The purpose of those questions is actually to identify your voice, since everyone's voice is unique," Charlie said as the big, round door automatically swung open. "It's at least better than saying something like, 'Please speak into the microphone.'" The two chocolatiers walked through the doorway, and everyone else followed them in.

The quality control lab was larger than a football field, and hundreds of Oompa Loompas in white lab coats were either walking around the area or sitting in front of the testing stations. The air was filled with the scent of all kinds of chocolate, as well as the cacophony of noises generated by the various machines that carried out the testing. On the ceiling, an enormous array of LED lights that formed the curly shape of Wonka's trademark "W" bathed the area in a soft blue light.

"Now, as Charlie said, this is the lab where we test our current line of Wonka candies," Willy told the six remaining guests. "Everyone enjoy yourselves, but try not to disturb the Oompa Loompas too much, okay? Go on now, go on, scoot!"

Chris ran straight towards the station where the Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight Wonka Bars were being tested, since they were his favorite flavor. The station was vacant, but the machines were hard at work, testing each Wonka Bar in various ways. At one machine, two hand-like clamps gripped each bar, and they broke the bars into pieces, segment by segment. The break lines were clean, without any jagged edges, and a green light illuminated to declare this batch a pass. The segments ended up on a tiny conveyor belt, which dumped them onto a large glass tray, and to his delight, there was a "TRY ME" sign next to it.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Chris exclaimed as he took one of the segments from the tray. He slowly ran his finger across the top of the piece, following the curls of the trademark "W" before trailing it across the rest of the name, which was embossed in plain capital letters. He glanced towards Jenna (who was checking out another station close by) as he twirled the piece in between his thumb and index fingers.

"I've had these all my life, and yet I didn't know they underwent such extensive testing," Chris said just before he lifted his arm towards his mouth. He took a relatively large bite, and he let the milk chocolate coating melt away on his tongue before savoring the delightful combination of salted caramel fudge and gooey, melted marshmallows. After he slowly finished the remainder of his favorite Wonka Bar, he happily walked towards Jenna, who was witnessing a Nutty Crunch Surprise bar being severed by a hydraulic cutting blade, to test the force required to bite into the chocolate bar.

"Willy sure knows what he's doing when it comes to his candies," Jenna said to Chris as the bar was cut in half with a loud crunch. A digital display beside the machine read "730 Newtons". "Come on, let's check out the Chilly Chocolate Creme bars." She grabbed his hand and led him towards another machine.

Meanwhile, Daniel walked up to a soft-serve ice cream machine at the back of the room. He grabbed a waffle cone from beside the machine, placed it under the nozzle, and pulled the red lever down. The machine started to hum as chocolate ice cream slowly swirled onto the cone before he pushed the lever back up. He began to lick the ice cream just as Mr. Wonka walked up to him.

"I see you found my Never-Melting Ice Cream," the chocolatier said. "This is one of our most popular products. You can leave it lying in the sun on a hot day, and it will stay cold and not go runny! Haha, isn't that neat?"

"What's the science behind this?" Daniel asked him. "I mean—"

"Sorry, but it's a closely guarded secret," Mr. Wonka replied. "We don't want any Fickelgruber, Prodnose, or Slugworth 2.0's stealing our recipes now, do we?" Daniel stared into the chocolatier's violet eyes for several seconds before grunting and walking away.

"At least he directly addressed my statement," Daniel said to himself. "For once, he didn't call me a mumbler."

Meanwhile, Charlie was watching Chris' and Jenna's fathers grab two small, glass bottles from the Butterscotch & Buttergin station. They popped the corks, watching as the foamy head fizzed out of the top of each bottle. Once their drinks stopped foaming, they took a large swig from their bottles, and the beverage was gone within seconds.

"Wow, this is great stuff, Charlie!" Jenna's father said to him once he finished swallowing his drink. "Where did you get the idea from?"

"Why, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it," Charlie replied with a smile. He removed his red top hat, revealing his neatly-combed, dark-brown hair. "I didn't come up with this recipe. Mr. Wonka did, a long time ago. He always said to me, 'Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.' I think that has to be my favorite quote of his. Go on now, feel free to explore the room some more!" The two men began walking to the other side of the room, conversing with each other along the way.

"You live in Birmingham, correct?" Chris' father asked. "What's the weather like over there now?"

"Let me see," Jenna's father said as he tapped his watch a few times, and the weather appeared on the screen. "Ninety-two degrees in Birmingham, Alabama."

"That must be extremely hot for this time of year, isn't it?" Mr. Davidson responded, looking at his phone. "It's currently seventy-four degrees in Columbus, Ohio." Changing the subject, he asked, "who influenced your band, Wormhole Citadel? I'm sure I should know by hearing their songs, but I'd like to hear from you, since you're their guitarist."

"We're a progressive metal band, as I'm sure you know," Mr. Adams replied. "Basically, just mix Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, and Within Temptation together, and you have Wormhole Citadel! Thanks for asking, though." He chuckled for a few seconds before he said, "Let's head to the Chocolate Cheese Fondue station, shall we?"

Meanwhile, Daniel's father found a machine near the center of the room, which was churning out dozens of tiny, red candies. Curious, he took one and swallowed it whole. Almost immediately, his face turned bright-red, and he felt a strong, burning sensation throughout his whole body. Seconds later, a powerful force sent him flying backwards, and he landed onto the floor in a heap. Mr. Wonka was there in an instant, and he helped him to get back on his feet.

"What was that?" Daniel's father asked once he managed to stand fully upright. "That sure was powerful."

"That's Exploding Candy for your enemies," Mr. Wonka replied. "It's just the right candy to give to the coworker or classmate whom you like the least. It's very powerful stuff, and it's certainly _not_ recommended for consumption by babies or very young children." He grinned upon finishing his sentence, and then he took out a small microphone and spoke into it: "Can the tour group please assemble by the entrance door? We must press on."

A few groans of disappointment were heard from around the area, but soon enough, the guests reluctantly gathered together at the front of the room. Charlie and Mr. Wonka joined them just a few seconds later.

"Well," Mr. Wonka said as he conducted everyone out of the lab, "let's keep on truckin'."

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll publish the next chapter in approximately two weeks, depending on how busy life gets. I'm warning you, though: the next one will be a shocker! Be prepared! :)**

 **Update: Chapter 20 is turning out to be really, really long, so I'm actually deciding to split it into three parts. Hopefully you're all okay with that.**


	20. The North Corridor

Chapter 20 - The North Corridor

 **Author's note: Hi, everyone! Sorry this was long overdue, but I'm back with the twentieth chapter of the story! Better late than never, I suppose. I seem to have received a rather large number of reviews for the last chapter, so I'll clear some things up here. First, I want to tell everyone that Daniel is NOT related to any of the Teavees in any way. Sorry to disappoint you, but Daniel was upset for a completely different reason. (Unfortunately, Daniel being a Teavee was my original plan all along while writing the story, and that was technically the plot twist. I just felt it came off as arbitrary since there were virtually no hints about that until the last two chapters. Sorry about that.)**

 **Please note that I will not be able to address everyone's individual reviews since there are so many, but I thank you very much for each and every one of them. As for those who submitted room suggestions, some will be included in the chapter and the next one. Now, on with the story! :)**

 **(Note: this chapter was previously called "A Dramatic Turn of Events, Part 1". I decided to change the name after I finished writing Chapter 21.)**

"Where are we going now?" Jenna asked as Mr. Wonka and Charlie led the group down another corridor. The walls and floor of this corridor were made from concrete, and there were two strips of bright, blue lights on each wall, just above the floor, to provide illumination.

"This is one of the factory's maintenance corridors," Charlie answered as the group began passing round doors with labels such as: "ELECTRICAL ROOM # 54", "HYDRAULIC ROOM # 30", and "HVAC ROOM # 41". "Remember, this is a large factory, so we need lots of space for the building's climate control systems, as well as all the electrical generators and hydraulic pumps that run most of the machines."

"What kind of hydraulic fluid do you use in there?" Chris' father asked, pointing at one of the hydraulic pump rooms. "Lemme guess, molten chocolate?"

"No," Mr. Wonka replied. "We actually use vegetable oil to run the hydraulic systems. Molten chocolate isn't the most practical solution for those applications, for a number of reasons."

"We also forgot to tell you that the Oompa Loompas sometimes use these corridors to quickly get from one area of the factory to another," Charlie said, "even though we already have many forms of transportation, as you know. If there's an evacuation, or in the unlikely case where every one of the backup electrical generators fail, we would use these corridors to navigate around the factory by foot. That's the reason why the lights are so low to the ground as well, since smoke rises upwards in the event of a fire." After he finished that sentence, he looked ahead and smiled as they reached a pair of double doors. "Ah, now we're about to enter the North Corridor."

Once the group reached the end of the maintenance corridor, Charlie pressed a button on the wall, causing the doors to slide out of the way. He and Willy led the guests into a long, straight corridor with numerous large, round doors on both sides. There were lights hidden inside the walls and ceiling that cast a soft, orange glow throughout the entire corridor.

"People," Mr. Wonka announced as everyone made it through the open doorway, "this corridor is where some of our most unique candies are manufactured." Daniel's father frowned at him upon hearing his sentence.

"If you say that this corridor is where some of your most unique candies are manufactured, then why did you give it such an uncreative name?" he asked.

"It's because it's the northernmost corridor in the factory," Willy replied with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "It just helps with landmarking, so that everyone has an easier time getting around. I also wish you wouldn't mumble like your son was doing earlier. Now, onward!"

The group began to walk past the first few doors, which were labeled: "CANDY BALLOONS", "LAVA LICORICE", and "RAINBOW DROPS".

"What exactly are Rainbow Drops?" Jenna asked.

"They're a type of candy you can suck on," Mr. Wonka answered, "and you can spit in seven different colors."

"That seems rather interesting," Jenna said to Chris. "Not my kind of candy, though."

Charlie suddenly stopped beside the next door they came to, which was labeled: "RASPBERRY KITES".

"Now, everyone," Charlie said as the group gathered around him, "this is a very special candy to me. This was the very first product that Willy and I created together since I moved in with my family. Take a look! Don't be shy." Everyone crowded around the door to look through the window. Inside this room, a team of Oompa Loompas were busy assembling dozens of tiny red kites, complete with thin, stretchy, red strings.

"The strings are actually made of licorice, by the way," Charlie added. "That was my idea." For several seconds, he stared through the window, watching the Oompa Loompas as they tirelessly assembled countless replicas of his beloved creation before placing them into small, red boxes. "Okay, everyone, let's move along."

The next door they stopped by was labeled: "POPSICLE ICEBERGS".

"Oooh, something tells me that this will be good!" Jenna said to Chris as Mr. Wonka opened the door, letting a nice, cool breeze flow out of the room. The group entered an enormous area which was dominated by a lake of water. What was interesting, however, were the colorful icebergs that almost seemed to be floating on top of it. They came in nearly every color imaginable, from the brightest shades of red, orange, yellow, and blue, to more neutral colors such as white, pale green, and brown. An army of Oompa Loompas were busy chipping away at each iceberg with pick axes. The pieces tumbled down into the water, where a fleet of self-driven boats waited to pick up their loads with an enormous robotic arm. Once each boat was loaded, they travelled towards a machine which sliced the chunks of ice into popsicle shapes, and a wooden stick was carefully inserted into each one before the boats took them to the packaging department.

"As you can see, this is where we produce our world-famous popsicles!" Mr. Wonka proudly announced. "It's the only place in the entire world where popsicles are picked from an iceberg!"

"The flavors include cherry, strawberry, orange, banana, grape, chocolate, French vanilla, and even root beer," Charlie added. "And that's just a few of them!"

"It's beautiful," Jenna said. "I could stay here all day, you know, just staring at those icebergs."

"Thanks for the compliment," Charlie replied. "We worked especially hard while constructing this room with the Oompa Loompas. I'm glad you like our creation so much. Now, let's keep moving."

The next door was labeled: "JELLO CASTLES".

"These would make wonderful additions to any playground," Mr. Wonka said as he opened the big, round door. Inside this room, several multicolored, castle-shaped structures were being tested by Oompa Loompa children, who were giggling as they bounced up and down. "As you can see, the children absolutely love them. They're just like the inflatable bouncy castles that many children know and love, except these ones don't require an air supply, and they're also edible. They won't melt in the sun, either."

"Can we try it?" Daniel asked. "I wanna see if they truly work."

"Well, if you can see the Oompa Loompas bouncing around, then certainly humans will be able to do so as well," Charlie told him. "But there's still so much more to see, so we must press on." With that, he led everyone out of the room before closing the door behind him.

A few seconds later, the group approached a door that was labeled: "FIZZY LEMONADE WATER PARK".

"Wow, that seems like fun!" Chris exclaimed. "What a great idea!"

"Well, thank you!" Charlie replied enthusiastically. "We already make fizzy lemonade swimming pools, so I figured, why not build a water park inside the factory? The Oompa Loompas love it, as well as Mr. Wonka and myself! Some of the slides are over one-hundred feet tall, and there's even a zip line that drops you into a big pool of chocolate. I'll admit that this room is a tad out of place, though. The water park should have been located in the Recreation Corridor instead, but there was an error with the floor plans that we used to construct this area. No time to explore, though, since it's far too big. There _is_ a room we could check out just across from this one, however." He pointed at a door which read: "GLOW IN THE DARK GUMMIES".

"Good choice, Charlie," Willy said as he led the group towards the large, round door. "It will be very dark in here, everyone, so once you're inside, stay still for a few seconds so your eyes can adjust, okay?" The group nodded and he rotated the vault-like handle to open the door, revealing a pitch-black void.

"Whoa, it really is dark in here!" Chris exclaimed as he walked inside with everyone else. The door closed, sealing everyone inside the pitch-black room.

"What did I tell you?" Charlie said, quietly chuckling to himself. "Now, Willy, would you please press the button?"

"You know this room better than I do, so you should press it," he replied. "It sure doesn't help when you're in your eighties and you can't see a single damn thing in front of you in this darkness."

"Very well, I'll press the button," Charlie said, sighing afterward. "Now, if you'd excuse— _oof!_ " Charlie suddenly bumped into Mr. Wonka and they both fell to the floor. "It's just like how I keep bumping into the doors of the Great Glass Elevator!" Charlie hastily clambered to his feet and dusted himself off, and Willy did the same. Once his outstretched arms found the wall, it only took a few seconds for him to locate the button.

"Okay, I finally found the button," Charlie said. "Feast your eyes, everyone." He pressed it, and a nearby wall slid out of the way, revealing a large room that wasn't much brighter than the one the group was already in. The only sources of light came from the ground, which was covered with Solar Swudge, and from the glowing gummy bears, snakes, and worms that were moving about. There was also a large aquarium in the back of the room where glowing gummy fish of all shapes and sizes swam around.

"These are some of the newest candies that we came up with," Mr. Wonka told the group. "The candies are quite sensitive to light, so that's why the entrance was so dark. They're packaged in special wrappers that allow absolutely no light inside, until you open them. It helps to ensure that they glow as brightly and vividly as they can. Pretty neat, isn't it? We'd better press on, though." Willy pressed the button again, and the wall began to slide back into place.

"Don't worry, everyone, I found the door," Charlie said once the tour group found themselves in total darkness again. "It's going to be bright once we re-enter the corridor, everyone. I'm just making you aware."

Charlie opened the door, causing nearly everyone to shield their eyes as light flooded the area. "I'll give you a few seconds for your eyes to adjust, and then we will continue onward."

"Wait!" Chris exclaimed as he pointed at the door that was directly across from the room they had left. It was labeled: "BEANS CORRIDOR". "Before we move on, I just want to know: what do you have in there?"

"My dear boy," Charlie replied, "we have just about every kind of bean that you can possibly think of in there! Cocoa beans, coffee beans, jelly beans, brandy beans, has beans—"

"What in the world are 'has beans'?" Daniel asked.

Mr. Wonka looked at him. "Well, you're one yourself, aren't you?" He laughed obnoxiously, and both Daniel and his father shot annoyed glares at him.

"If you want more puns," Charlie said with a smile, "why not look at the next door over here?" He pointed to a door which was labeled: "FONDUES & FONDON'TS".

"Okay, now you're going too far," Daniel's father said. "That doesn't make any sense. As interesting as some of the other candies were, there's just no point in you guys making those."

"I know, right?" Daniel added before looking at Charlie and Mr. Wonka. "I'm proud to have such a smart, sensible father, and you guys should definitely know that by now."

"Charlie called it a pun for a reason, Daniel," Chris replied. "Do is the opposite of don't, so fondue, fondon't!" Daniel just scowled at him in response. "Oh, whatever, Daniel. You can keep hiding inside that closed, stubborn mind of yours for the remainder of the tour if you want, or you can learn to appreciate everything here for what it is. I don't care."

"All right, Chris, that's it!" Daniel shouted. He lunged at Chris and tackled him to the floor before choking him. Jenna, as well as the adults, watched the scene in horror, but Daniel's father was quick to act. He lunged towards his son and forcibly pried him off of Chris, who was coughing as he ran towards Mr. Davidson.

"Are you okay, son?" he asked Chris as he laid a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Well, _now_ I am," Chris replied in between coughs, "but I sure wasn't okay just a few seconds ago!" He coughed one last time before turning to glare at Daniel.

"Daniel, don't ever do that again!" Mr. Sparkman exclaimed. "You could have killed him! Please, apologize to Chris right now."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Daniel said hastily. "I won't choke or even argue with you again, I swear!"

"You'd better mean it," Chris muttered under his breath. After clearing his throat, he said, "Okay, I'll forgive you, but only if you stay true to your word. This is just supposed to be a tour, so let's continue on, peacefully. I don't know what's going to happen next, but we must not get into any more arguments or fights. Understand?" Daniel nodded in response. "Good."

Charlie removed his red top hat as he smiled at his favorite ticket winner.

"Very well said, Chris," he told him. "You're kind, and yet assertive at the same time, without being overly mean or aggressive. Those are great qualities for one to have. Now, let's keep on rolling, shall we?" He gracefully placed his top hat back onto his head, and he joined Willy before leading the group past several more round doors. Eventually, they reached a gigantic garage door.

"Now," Mr. Wonka said, "the next room that we're gonna visit is relatively far away, so we have to use a method of transportation to get there. We could use the Great Glass Elevator if we wanted to, but we've already used it twice, so let's change things up a bit."

"What kind of transportation will we be using next?" Jenna asked as she walked up to Chris and took his hand.

"We'll be going for a ride on the Gummy Glo-Kart race track!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed as he pressed a button on the wall, causing the garage door to slide upward. "Ready? On we go!"

 **Author's note: Sorry I made you guys wait so long for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. In case you're wondering where the idea for fondues and fondon'ts came from, I overheard two coworkers talking while I was at work, and one of them mentioned fondues and fondont's (likely as a joke), so I immediately wrote that down as an idea. Somebody will be eliminated in the next chapter, so what do you think might happen? You'll find out soon! :)**


	21. High-Tech Madness, Part 1

Chapter 21 - High-Tech Madness, Part 1

 **Author's note: Hello, everyone! I am terribly sorry about the long wait. I've been going through a lot of hell lately, from being locked out of my FanFiction account for a day (which was very scary) to having a severe case of writer's block, as well as being obsessed over all the political rallies going on in the United States. And no, I do NOT want to talk about my political views here, because they are not mainstream by any means, and I don't want to start any arguments over it. But the good thing is that the wait is finally over! The reason I decided to upload this extra-long, two-part chapter now is because today marks one year since I finished writing what I consider to be my magnum opus, "Where All the Bad Nuts Go". Unfortunately, due to the amount of reviews I've received for the previous chapter, I won't be able to respond to each of them individually, but I do thank you all for expressing your opinions. Now, let's cut to the chase—er, race, I mean. On with the story! :)**

"I hope you're all feeling the need for some speed," Charlie said once the garage door closed behind everyone's backs, plunging them into total darkness. "Feast your eyes, everyone."

The room was suddenly illuminated by fluorescent-green lights on the floor and bright, green spotlights on the ceiling, revealing the starting area of a wide race track. Eight green, glowing go-karts were lined up on the track's starting grid. Spoilers made from rock candy were mounted on the back of each kart. The vehicles were powered by engines that were situated behind the driver's seat. Eight black rubber hoses hung down from the ceiling, and a team of Oompa Loompas were busy hooking them up to the karts' fuel tanks.

"This is the factory's newest method of transportation," Mr. Wonka proudly told the group. "We used to have a special vehicle called the Wonkamobile, and while it was an exciting way to get around the factory, since you'd be doused with many different kinds of fizzy soda, Charlie and I decided it was time to upgrade the system, to something a little different. These are the Gummy Glo-Karts!"

"Gummy Glo-Karts? That's an interesting name," Chris said.

"We call them Gummy Glo-Karts because they're made almost entirely from synthetic gelatin except for the tires, which are made from a special kind of licorice that's as durable as vulcanized rubber," Charlie told everyone. "The karts also glow in the dark, hence the name."

"What are the Oompa Loompas doing with those hoses?" Jenna's father inquired as he watched an Oompa Loompa turn a valve on one of the black hoses, and a clear liquid began to flow into one of the karts' fuel tanks.

"Oh, they're just filling each Gummy Glo-Kart with our specially designed, non-pollutionary racing fuel," Charlie replied. "The fuel consists of ginger ale, ginger pop, ginger beer, beer bubbles, bubble-ade, bubble cola, double cola, double bubble burp-a-cola, and all that other crazy carbonated stuff. It's a surprisingly powerful mixture, and it's also much more eco-friendly than the high-octane racing fuel that most race cars use."

"I haven't even heard of half of those beverages before," Chris said to Jenna. "Have you?"

"Not until now," she softly replied, shaking her head. "Maybe they're only used as ingredients for the fuel. Besides, Ginger Ale is made by Schweppes, and I'm sure that there would have been legal issues had Mr. Wonka tried to sell Ginger Ale by himself. It's like what my grandma told me about Fickelgruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth, and how they stole Mr. Wonka's secret recipes and sold them under their own names."

"All right, the karts are now fueled and raring to go!" Charlie exclaimed as the Oompa Loompas removed the hoses and walked away. "Choose your Gummy Glo-Kart! It doesn't matter which one! They only have one seat each, though."

Charlie and Willy smiled as everyone scrambled towards a vehicle of their choosing before taking their seats.

"Whoa!" Chris exclaimed in surprise as he jumped into the cockpit of his vehicle. "I can feel the seat bouncing up and down!"

"That's because the material the Gummy Glo-Karts are made of functions as the ultimate shock absorber," Charlie told him before hopping into his own Gummy Glo-Kart. "There's no need for airbags, and you get a super-smooth ride out of the deal. Now, this is for everyone: buckle up, and start your engines!"

With the push of a button, each kart's engine suddenly roared to life. Their deep, rumbling sounds caused the gelatin exterior of each vehicle to ripple slightly, a sight that Chris especially seemed to enjoy. Holographic speedometers and tachometers appeared just above their steering wheels, and a set of lights above the starting line illuminated red, then yellow, and then green. To the tune of squealing tires, and a thick cloud of white smoke, everyone accelerated onto the track, whose green glow contrasted with the pitch-blackness of the room around them. Everyone except for Daniel, that is.

"This had better not be like that roller coaster we rode in the Rock Candy Mine," Daniel mumbled to himself as he watched everyone else race off into the distance. Hesitantly, he pressed his foot onto the accelerator to join up with the others.

"Where's Daniel?" Chris asked as he began to overtake Jenna.

"I think he stayed behind for some reason!" Jenna replied, speaking loudly so that she could be heard over the noise of the karts' engines. Suddenly, a purple box with Wonka's logo on it dropped down right in front of her, and she drove straight through it. "What was that thing I just hit?"

"I think it's a power-up!" Chris said, pointing to a holographic rocket symbol that was floating above his speedometer. "My dad used to play this game called Mario Kart, so that's how I guessed what I had. I got mine at the start of the race and I haven't used it until now! See ya!" Chris exclaimed, and he pressed a glowing button on his steering wheel. A rocket engine fired up, and his kart accelerated to nearly eighty miles per hour. He grinned as he blazed past Mr. Wonka and Charlie. "So long! Nice knowing ya!"

"I'll get you back," Mr. Wonka said as he activated his power-up, which caused a stream of Everlasting Gobstoppers to suddenly appear in front of Chris.

"Whoa!" Chris exclaimed in surprise as the red, spherical candies came out of nowhere, and he barely managed to swerve around them. "That's quite the power-up you've got there, Mr. Wonka!"

Daniel, who had managed to get out of last place by passing Chris' and Jenna's fathers, acquired a power-up that deposited a thick layer of sticky toffee on the track behind him, and he looked over his shoulder at the two adults as he sped further ahead of them. Their speed was drastically lowered by the sticky coating of toffee that had accumulated on their wheels.

"They're stuck there for now," Daniel said to himself. "Time for me to catch up to the others."

"Well, I guess the tables have been turned," Jenna's father mumbled to himself. "This sure is one heck of a race. I wonder what's at the end of the track."

Further up the track, Daniel caught up to Chris by passing Jenna, and they had both acquired power-ups of their own. Daniel glared at Chris, and without warning, he bumped Chris' kart to the side, causing his well-behaved rival to spin out of control.

"How dare you, Daniel!" Chris growled, angrily shaking his fist. "I didn't even do anything to you, but now I will!" Chris accelerated until the kart reached its top speed, and once he maneuvered his kart beside Daniel's, he used his newest power-up, which sprayed a thick cloud of purple fog towards Daniel's face. Temporarily blinded, Daniel was forced to slow down in order to not hit anything or anyone in his path.

Jenna was not doing so well, either. Everybody else was using their power-ups to their advantage, and the preteens' parents had finally overtaken her, leaving her at the very back of the pack.

"I haven't seen very many power-ups on the track lately," Jenna said to herself. "Everyone seems to be hoarding them, so how can I possibly win?"

Suddenly, a box appeared in front of her, and she crashed through it to acquire another power-up. This time, the holographic symbol that appeared above her speedometer was that of a fist with the index and pinky fingers pointing upward.

"Ooh, I got metal horns!" she said excitedly. "I wonder what this will do! This might give me an advantage in the race."

Jenna pressed the button, and the sound of pounding drums and screaming guitars suddenly filled the air, and everyone in front of her spun wildly out of control before involuntarily headbanging to the music.

"Watch out, I'm coming through!" She laughed as she swerved in and out of the now-stalled karts, taking the lead in mere seconds. The music died down a few seconds later, leaving nearly everyone behind her in a state of bewilderment.

"Uhh, what just happened?" Daniel asked in confusion as he tried to restart his kart. His head felt like it was spinning, making it difficult for him to concentrate on what he was doing. "I feel a tad dizzy, and my ears are ringing."

"When someone is not doing so well during the race, they acquire a special power-up that will turn the tables on the other drivers," Charlie answered. "These special power-ups are unique to each person. Now let's catch up to Jenna. She's far away from us now."

Chris never felt the slightest amount of dizziness or confusion after Jenna performed her special move, and once he successfully restarted his Gummy Glo-Kart, he immediately stomped on the accelerator. He passed the majority of the other racers, who were still regaining their bearings.

"Why does the goody two-shoes always have to get ahead of me?" Daniel asked as Chris' vehicle roared off into the distance. "Oh, well." His kart began accelerating quickly, but just as he was about to overtake Mr. Wonka, an idea came to him, and he took his foot off of the accelerator.

"I just realized that Charlie said something very foolish earlier, and it's something that one could use to essentially cheat his or her way through the race," Daniel said with a mischievous smile as he slowed down, letting everyone else race past him. "He said you get the special power-up if you fall behind in the race. I'll use that to my advantage by doing some Sunday driving for a while."

Daniel continued to follow the twists and turns of the course, albeit at a much slower speed than the other racers. Before long, he smashed through a purple box, and a holographic robot symbol appeared in front of him.

"This must be my special power-up; my reward for falling behind," he said. "My idea worked!"

Seconds later, Daniel's kart began to undergo a major transformation. The tires retracted into the undercarriage, and a gigantic pair of steel legs took their place. Daniel felt his seat lifting high into the air as his kart, which was now a hulking, green robot, stood fully upright. A pair of thick steel arms extended from the sides of the robot, and each arm boasted two cannons that were loaded with Nerds.

Up ahead, everyone could feel the thumping vibrations that came from Daniel's robot as it stomped down the track towards them.

"Look out, Dad!" Chris yelled at his father, who managed to swerve out of the oncoming robot's path.

"Nothing can stop me now," Daniel cackled as he began to unleash a barrage of colorful Nerds at his competition. Everyone quickly ducked their heads as the tiny candies rained down onto them, as well as onto the track. With most of the other drivers now out of Daniel's way, he began to maneuver the robot towards Jenna, who looked up at it in terror.

"No!" Jenna cried. "Don't shoot me, please!"

"You're a metalhead, Jenna," Daniel told her. "Metalheads are supposed to be tough and strong. Now prepare to have your chances of victory stolen by me!" He aimed both cannons at her vehicle, but just before Daniel could fire them, he noticed that he was no longer high above the track, nor was he moving as fast as he was before. The robot legs were replaced by licorice tires as his kart returned to its normal dimensions. "What's going on? Please don't tell me that my kart is back to normal now. And why the heck am I slowing down?"

"It's not just you," Charlie told him. "We're all slowing down. It's part of an automated system that engages the karts' brakes before the track passes through some of the candy-making rooms in this area." The area fell dead silent as the engines automatically powered down. "The Oompa Loompas don't want to be disturbed by the noise of the engines, so that's why the karts shut themselves off."

"Then how is it that we're still moving?" Chris asked, bewildered. "Are we on a giant conveyor belt or something?"

"Precisely!" Mr. Wonka replied. "Now, since we're sitting nice and still, I thought I should show you some of the upcoming rooms as we pass through them."

The karts slowly traveled through a room which featured several tanks of blue liquid, and a cannon positioned above each tank was shooting different kinds of Gobstoppers into the liquid. Two Oompa Loompas outfitted in diving suits were swimming in each tank, and they were banging the Gobstoppers against the side of the tanks to test how hard or soft each one was.

"This is where we manufacture our Everlasting Gobstoppers," Mr. Wonka announced enthusiastically. "We also produce our regular Gobstoppers, Chewy Gobstoppers, Crunchy Gobstoppers, and Gobstopper Snowballs in this very room."

"Will you tell us what the Everlasting Gobstopper recipe is?" Daniel inquired. "It's been forty years since the original tour."

"No, we're not allowed to tell anyone, even after all this time," Charlie sternly told him. "It's still a well-kept secret within our company."

Chris and Jenna remained silent, listening to the sounds of the cannons that fired the Gobstoppers into the tanks. That was short-lived, however, since the tour group was approaching the other end of the room. The conveyor made a turn to the right, slowly carrying everyone out of the Gobstopper room and into a wide corridor that was softly lit by pink lights on the floor. As they slowly rounded another corner, loud dance music and laughter (and the occasional sound of shattering glass) were heard from behind a closed door.

"What's going on in there?" Chris inquired.

"That's where we produce Butterscotch & Buttergin," Mr. Wonka told him. "The Oompa Loompas get so drunk in there that it's a miracle they can still run the machines that manufacture the stuff. Unfortunately, this particular track won't take us through that room, since only adults are allowed inside, but the next room we'll travel through is where one of our most popular candies are manufactured."

The group entered an underwater glass tunnel, like what you would find at a large aquarium. Thousands of tiny creatures with two round eyes and two little legs were swimming all around, and they came in seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, and purple. Some of the creatures were swimming towards an array of ladders on the sides of the tank that corresponded with their color, and they used the ladders to climb out of the water. They rode down a series of glass chutes that dropped them into one half of a box, with creatures of another color being dropped into the other half. There were four different kinds of boxes, each containing two colors: red and yellow, red and green, blue and orange, and pink and purple. As soon as they landed into their respective boxes, the creatures' eyes faded away and their legs became fused to their bodies.

"Let me guess, those are Nerds," Daniel's father said. "I thought the little characters on the boxes were just meant to be personifications of the candy, but I guess they're actually real."

"That is correct," Charlie replied. "You won't believe what our sales figures are from this candy alone. The Nerds are just about as popular as our chocolate bars." Chris' jaw fell open upon hearing that fact.

"Wow," he said in astonishment. "I knew they must be popular since I always see my friends taking them to school to have for dessert after lunch, but I never knew they were that popular!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Charlie said with a grin. "Speaking of surprises, just wait until you see what's coming up next!"

Upon exiting the Nerds room, the conveyor traveled towards an ornate-looking pair of golden doors. The doors slid open, revealing a life-sized village made almost entirely out of gingerbread. The ceiling was made to look like the sky at night, complete with thousands of twinkling stars. The snow that fell from the sky was actually icing sugar, and it accumulated on the streets as well as on the roofs of each gingerbread building. Hundreds of multicolored lights adorned the rooflines of the buildings, and warm, orange light seeped through the windows. A towering Christmas tree that was decorated with colorful Gobstoppers, along with a golden star on top, proudly stood in the very center of the village. Dozens of life-sized gingerbread people were walking up and down the streets, and the faint sound of Christmas music could be heard from all around.

"This is the Gingerbread Village," Charlie announced. "It operates year-round, and everything in there is edible. I constructed this room just two years after I moved into the factory, with a little help from the Oompa Loompas. It's a fully self-sustaining community, and although the holiday festivities take place year-round, we host extra special events during December, like Exploding Candy firework shows and special choir performances."

"I think this is the most beautiful room I've seen in the entire factory so far," Jenna said as she looked around in awe. "How long did it take you to build this?"

"About a month or so," Charlie responded. "I'm very proud of it."

The conveyor reached the other side of the room, and another set of golden doors slid open to make way for everyone's karts to pass through. Once the group passed through the open doorway, the soft Christmas music was replaced by a cacophony of chirping and chattering sounds.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Wonka announced, even though there was only one female in the group, "welcome to the Nut Sorting Room!"

The conveyor slowly led everyone around the perimeter of an enormous, circular room that resembled a forest. There were several tall trees that surrounded the room's circumference, and they formed pillars that rose up from the moss-covered ground. A wide, rushing river flowed through the center of the room, from one end to the other. The tree trunks had several branches with openings cut into them, and they deposited several different kinds of nuts onto glass trays. The nuts were being handled by no less than three-hundred squirrels, who sat on tree stumps positioned in front of each tray.

"Oh, look!" Jenna cried in excitement. "They're squirrels! And they're so cute!"

"Thanks for the compliment," Mr. Wonka said. "These squirrels are specially trained to get the nuts out of shells. We use squirrels because they can get the whole nut out almost every single time. The Oompa Loompas always end up breaking the nuts into two, so that's why we decided to use squirrels. You see how they tap each nut on the tree stumps to make sure that it's not bad? If it's good, they place it onto a conveyor belt that's concealed within the roots of the trees. If it's bad, it gets thrown into the river. Oh, look! Watch that squirrel over there!" He excitedly pointed to a squirrel who was holding a walnut up to his ear, listening to the sound it made. "I think he's got a bad nut." Sure enough, the squirrel threw the nut over his shoulder, where it tumbled down a slope and landed in the river at the center of the room. "The river delivers the bad nuts towards a conveyor which allows them to dry, before dumping them into the main incinerator, where they're burned along with all the other garbage the factory produces."

"Did the room always look like this?" Chris asked.

"As a matter of fact, no," Charlie answered. "Back when I became the heir to the factory, this room was much smaller, with only one-hundred squirrels instead of three-hundred. There used to be a blue-and-white swirl design on the floor, and the garbage just went into a chute. This room underwent major changes, as you can see, so that the squirrels could feel more like they're at home in their natural habitat."

"That's awesome," Chris' father said. "Now I know why your Nutty Crunch Surprise bars taste so good, because the nuts are handled by creatures who do their job well."

Before Charlie had a chance to reply, the conveyor belt suddenly began to pick up speed as it carried everyone out of the Nut Sorting Room. The Gummy Glo-Karts slid off the conveyor and onto a track made of dark chocolate cobblestone bricks. The walls and ceiling of this area were also made of dark chocolate bricks.

"Ladies—er, _lady_ and gentlemen, you may now restart your engines!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, and a few seconds later, everyone's karts rumbled to life once again before accelerating under their own power. After navigating a corner, the racers entered a room with an enormous mountain that was made entirely out of dark chocolate.

"This is the Chocolate Volcano!" Charlie exclaimed as they sped by. "Be warned, it is especially active today. It could erupt at any second." Sure enough, the ground began to rumble, and with a thunderous explosion, thousands of gallons of liquid chocolate erupted from the top of the mountain. Some of it began to slowly slide down the sides of the mountain, and the bigger, semi-solid chunks landed on the ground with a series of loud thumps.

"Whew, good thing they didn't hit us this time," Charlie said, looking over his shoulder at his guests to see if they were all right.

"You've been hit by those chunks before?" Daniel's father asked as he passed Charlie.

"I sure have, but thankfully not while on the race track," Charlie said. "That's why I don't visit this room very often. Whenever I do, I always wear a helmet."

The racers hurtled into a long, narrow tunnel with walls that constantly changed color. The track was changing color as well, creating a psychedelic effect.

"Wow, this is crazy," Chris said as he floored the accelerator in an attempt to take the lead. "Too bad I don't see any more power-ups here."

"No, there won't be any more power-ups from here on," Charlie replied loudly. "But be warned: the effects you're experiencing now with these colors is only a foreshadowing of the craziness that's to come!"

Chris noticed he was nearing a fork in the track. A sign over the left-hand path read "Dessert Island", and the sign over the right-hand path read "Colossal Cupcakes". A gate that was composed of purple lasers was blocking the right-hand path.

"It looks like we're going to Dessert Island," Charlie told the group as they sped towards the fork, but just before they began to turn left, the lasers suddenly switched directions. "WHOA! See, I told you things would get crazy! On to the Colossal Cupcakes, then!"

Mr. Wonka, Charlie, Chris, and Jenna were forced to turn to the right and head down the path towards the Colossal Cupcakes. As Daniel and the preteens' fathers approached the fork, however, the lasers changed directions again, forcing them to quickly turn left towards Dessert Island.

"Okay, that was certainly unexpected," Jenna said as she drove up to Chris, and they continued to race alongside each other. She glanced at him before looking back over her shoulder. "Hey! Where's everyone else?"

"I think they were forced to head for Dessert Island!" Chris exclaimed. "The lasers must have changed directions on them!"

"That's exactly what happened," Charlie told him as they sped into the Colossal Cupcakes room. "Don't worry, the tracks will join back together shortly. Let's just take in the beauty of the Colossal Cupcakes for now."

The track zigzagged in between dozens of five-story tall cupcakes that came in all the colors of the rainbow. Each cupcake had a different kind of icing on the top, as well as a thick layer of colorful sprinkles that were the size of baseball bats. Suddenly, the track became extremely bumpy, and everyone was forced to slow down as they drove over a patch of oversized sprinkles that had accumulated on the track.

"Thank goodness these things are made out of synthetic gelatin," Chris said, watching the body of his kart ripple and quiver as it absorbed all the shocks from the rough terrain. "At least the ride is still nice and smooth."

"That's why we made the karts that way," Charlie said. "Otherwise, the frame would just rattle apart."

"Chris, look!" Jenna shouted, pointing upwards at a cupcake that was crowned with a gigantic, black top hat, similar to Mr. Wonka's. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, Jenna!" Chris yelled back. "I wonder what could possibly be coming next."

Meanwhile, Daniel was awestruck as he and the preteens' guardians made a beeline for Dessert Island. An enormous island made of countless varieties of desserts loomed in the distance ahead of them. They drove across a bridge made from enormous chocolate-covered pretzel sticks, spanning a lake of steaming, dark-blue fluid.

"I wonder what this fluid is," Jenna's father said, loudly enough for the others to hear. "It looks like blueberry pie filling to me!"

"You know, I think you might be correct," Daniel's father said as they finished crossing the bridge onto the island. After navigating a straightaway between two clusters of spearmint cacti, Daniel began to fall behind the others upon realizing that he was quickly approaching a narrow, dark tunnel that resembled the entrance to a mine.

"I don't like this, Dad!" he yelled as loud as he could, but the other racers didn't even look back as they zoomed into the tunnel, disappearing from sight in less than a second. "Well, I can't wait here, that's for sure, even though this reminds me too much of that roller coaster we rode earlier. It's not like I'll be going upside-down or anything, so I can do this. I must, actually!" And with that, Daniel accelerated into the tunnel, not looking back.

Up ahead, the adults were halfway through the dimly-lit tunnel, which turned out to be a clockwise, downward helix situated underneath the island.

"I never thought I'd say this," Chris' father said to Jenna's father, "but I'm getting dizzy from just spiraling around. Hopefully this will end sooner than later." Sure enough, as they neared the end of the spiral, a glimmer of light pierced the darkness like a needle, and they sped out of the tunnel on the other side of Dessert Island. Daniel, who was flooring the accelerator during the helix, soon caught up to the others.

"There you are, Daniel!" Mr. Sparkman joyfully exclaimed as his son caught up to him, and they reached the point where the tracks from Dessert Island and the Colossal Cupcakes room merged back into a single track. "I was feeling a tad worried back there, since I know that you don't like roller coasters and tunnels all that much." He then heard the ear-piercing sound of screeching tires coming from the other track, and Jenna flew past him. "Here come the other racers! It looks like Jenna's taking the lead. We haven't got a moment to lose!"

"Can you please stop sounding like a sports commentator, Dad?" Daniel asked. "It sounds annoying."

"Look, there's Daniel and our guardians!" Chris exclaimed, pointing at his competitors. Without saying another word, he pressed his foot even harder on the accelerator, and the extra burst of speed was barely enough to pass both the Sparkmans. After swerving around a tight corner to the left, Chris caught up to Jenna at the front of the pack, and they were neck and neck as they reached the final straightaway to the finish line, where a group of Oompa Loompas were cheering them on. An enormous scoreboard displayed each person's current rankings.

"We made it!" Jenna cried with delight as she and Chris streaked across the finish line before slamming on the brakes, creating long, black skid marks on the track in the process. They looked up at the scoreboard to find that they were tied for first place. Chris jumped out of his kart and gave Jenna a high-five.

Daniel and his father crossed the finish line a few seconds later, in second and third place respectively, followed by Charlie, Mr. Wonka, and Chris' father. Jenna's father was the last person to arrive, reaching the finish line four seconds behind everyone else.

"Wow, that was one heck of a race," Daniel's father said as he exited his kart and adjusted his glasses. "Did you have a favorite part, son?"

"Well, it was quite fun to be controlling a robot loaded with ammo," Daniel replied. "I'll admit, I felt like a true genius when I found that loophole that gives a fantastic reward to those who are in jeopardy. It seems that Charlie and Mr. Wonka have their own design flaws after all. Or maybe they rigged it so that they could watch us perform interesting stunts during the race. Somehow I think it was the latter."

"I absolutely loved the Gingerbread Village," Jenna said dreamily once she stepped out of her kart and reunited with Chris. "So far, I'd say it was my favorite room in the entire factory. That might change, though, if I get the chance to visit the Music Conservatory. How about you, Chris?"

"I don't really know if I had a favorite part," Chris answered. "It was cool seeing those extra rooms and all, but I just enjoyed the overall experience. When we collected those power-ups at the start of the race, I felt like I was in a video game. It was awesome."

"Chris is such a nice kid, just like you were," Mr. Wonka said to Charlie. "But we could say he also has some 'oomph' to him, if you know what I mean. He's willing to openly participate in arguments, and he seems to have a bit of aggression within himself that you never seemed to have during the first tour."

"I agree with you," Charlie replied, "but I think his good side outshines whatever hint of darkness might be contained within him. Besides, we all bear a touch of darkness, just as much as we bear light. But enough of that now. Let's just continue the tour." Charlie turned to face his guests, and with his arm, he gestured towards a nearby door that was labeled: "MAGLEV STATION # 2". "Through here, please."

The door automatically slid out of the way, and the guests' mouths fell open once they saw what was inside. A streamlined, white maglev train was waiting alongside a long, narrow platform. In front of the train, a dark, narrow tunnel stretched out as far as the eye can see. Chris and Jenna gaped in awe at the train. Daniel, however, didn't look quite as impressed.

"Don't you already have _enough_ transportation methods inside this factory of yours?" he asked. "This is getting to be quite ridiculous."

"Well, I'd normally accuse you of mumbling, but I must say that our factory wouldn't be quite as unique without them, little boy," Willy replied. "Besides, this method of transportation is necessary for us to get to where we'll be going next. It's actually the _only_ way for us to get there."

"Get where?" Jenna asked, clutching onto Chris' hand.

"We'll be going to an area of the factory that is so secure, it's impenetrable to the most powerful nuclear bombs around," Charlie answered with a smile. "It's located about fifty miles from the main area of the factory, so that's why we need to use a maglev, because they're extremely fast. All aboard, everyone!"

Chris gasped. "Fifty _miles?!_ Did I really hear you correctly?"

"You sure did, Chris," Charlie responded. "It's for security reasons. Now, let's climb aboard."

The group walked through an open doorway that led into the middle car of the train. Inside, there was a long, narrow aisle, and six rows of two leather seats flanked both sides of it, making for a seating capacity of twenty-four passengers. Beside each of the outer seats was a relatively small, oval window, like what you'd find on an airplane.

"Pick a seat, any seat," Charlie said to the tour group, and they scrambled to find their seats. Not surprisingly, Chris sat beside Jenna. Daniel sat by himself, as did all of the other adults in the group. Charlie and Willy, however, took a pair of extra seats at the back of the car. Their seats had special controls for communicating with the Oompa Loompas at the front of the train.

"We are now seated and ready to go," Charlie spoke into a microphone that was embedded into his right armrest. "Onward!"

The train slowly began to travel into the tunnel, and an automated voice was heard from the PA system.

"Welcome aboard! Our next stop will be the Information Technology Corridor. We'll be arriving in just seven minutes, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride." A strange, whining noise was heard, and the maglev began to smoothly accelerate through the tunnel, steadily picking up speed with each passing second.

"Jenna," Chris said, tapping her on the shoulder. "Look at how fast we're going!" He pointed up to a display that hung down from the ceiling, which was showing the maglev's current speed and progress through the tunnel: 120 mph, 130 mph, 140 mph.

"In order to arrive at our destination in such a short amount of time," Charlie said, "we'll be reaching speeds of up to 650 miles per hour for part of the journey."

"Why can't you just use your Great Glass Elevator?" Chris asked him.

"Remember, we're on our way to an ultra-secure area of the factory," Charlie answered, "so for security reasons, we can't have this area listed on any of the buttons in the Great Glass Elevator." Chris nodded before returning his gaze to the display, which now read 340 mph.

"Wow, this sure is fast," Daniel said. "It looks like we're gaining ten miles per hour each second. But I hardly see what the point of those windows is, however, if all I'm seeing is blackness."

"The windows are there so that the train looks more presentable while it's in the station," Charlie replied. "Remember, we don't want a single ounce of ugliness in our factory. Not like Slugworth's, anyway. His is the worst of them all. Believe me, I've seen the place for myself."

"All right, we've reached our top speed," Mr. Wonka announced. Sure enough, the display read 650 mph. "I seriously hope that nobody's using the other train at this moment."

"What other train?" Jenna asked with concern. "There's only one tunnel, as far as I know."

"It's the train that goes the opposite way on the same track as this one," Mr. Wonka replied with a sinister-looking grin.

"What?!" Chris' father exclaimed as he paled with terror. "Are you saying we might have a collision?"

"Well, we've always been lucky so far," Charlie replied. "I don't know how we managed it, though."

"I hope he's only joking," Daniel's father mumbled to himself. "Colliding with another object at six-hundred fifty miles per hour would spell instant death for us all."

"All right, we're nearing our destination," Mr. Wonka said a few minutes later, and the maglev began to decelerate smoothly but steadily.

"What shall we expect to see?" Daniel asked, turning to look at Charlie.

"Oh, just you wait," he replied with a smile. "You're going to love what we'll show you next."

A few minutes later, the group disembarked from the maglev, emerging into a station that looked nearly identical to the one where they first boarded the train. There was a single door that led out of the room, and it was guarded by a highly sophisticated biometric system.

"The Information Technology Corridor is the most secure wing of the entire factory," Charlie announced, gesturing towards the door. "There's a reason why it's located fifty miles away from the main building. Please consider it as a privilege that we're doing so much as to allow you inside."

After scanning their handprints, irises, and retinas, Mr. Wonka and Charlie led their guests through the door and into a short corridor which was entirely white, from the doors and floor to the arched ceiling above their heads. Pale-blue LED lights shone down from the ceiling, and the corridor was so clean and spotless that not a single speck of dust could be seen.

"This corridor is where all of our servers are housed," Mr. Wonka told the group, and Daniel's face lit up in response.

"Are we able to see what they look like?" he asked excitedly. "I promise I won't do anything in there! Please?"

"We can see them from over here," Charlie said, gesturing towards a large window which revealed the factory's Server Room. Rows upon rows of glowing, purple spheres that were about the size of an average car filled the enormous room. "These servers have been upgraded substantially since you last hacked into them."

"Wow, those are the strangest-looking servers I've ever seen," Daniel said. "Can we go in?"

"Absolutely _not,_ " Mr. Wonka replied, shaking his head. "Besides, look at the door that leads into this room." He led the group to a nearby round door, and it featured even more security systems than the door they came in from. "The door and walls are at least six feet thick, and they are filled with reinforced concrete as well as solid iron. Oh, and the window you were just looking through is completely bulletproof and blast-proof." Daniel merely shrugged in response before Charlie and Mr. Wonka continued to lead the group past several unlabeled doors. Eventually, they reached a large, round door that was labeled: "VIRTUAL REALITY TESTING ROOM".


	22. High-Tech Madness, Part 2

Chapter 21 - High-Tech Madness, Part 2

"This, lady and gentlemen, is a new invention of ours that I think you might find to be interesting," Charlie announced as he scanned his handprint to open the door to the Virtual Reality Testing Room. "Feast your eyes."

Once the door opened, Chris, Jenna, Daniel, and their fathers followed Mr. Wonka and Charlie into a large, relatively dim room. The only light sources came from a ring of blue lights around the room's circumference, and from a glowing, blue apparatus in the very center of the room that resembled a flying saucer. Below the saucer, there was a raised, circular platform. The far end of the room was dominated by an enormous screen.

"This is the testing room for our new virtual reality system, which emphasizes the virtual and the reality!" Mr. Wonka proudly announced as he led the group around the area. "It uses 5th-generation Television Chocolate technology to transport you into any movie or video game of your choice, and you literally get to be a part of the action."

"What's Television Chocolate?" Jenna asked. "It sounds quite unique."

"Television Chocolate was invented a long time ago by me," Willy replied, "as a way to give households all around the world a chance to try our chocolate, for free. Television, as you might know, operates on the basic principle that objects on the screen appear to be smaller than they are in real life. We used to send enormous Wonka Bars by television by taking a picture of it with a high-tech camera, and once that bar appeared on someone's TV screen, the person just needed to reach out and take it directly from the screen. Since the bar was enormous to begin with, it appeared to be a regular-sized bar once it reached people's TV's."

"That doesn't make any sense," Daniel snapped, glaring at Mr. Wonka. "You could show a close-up of a fly on TV, and it will appear to be much bigger than it is in real life. Sorry to break this to you, but your logic has failed!" Mr. Wonka looked slightly hurt upon hearing Daniel's words.

"Well," Willy replied, trying to shake off what Daniel had just said, "due to the fact that our sales plummeted since people were simply hoarding our chocolate for free, we scrapped that idea, and after several years of brainstorming and testing, we decided to use this technology for recreational purposes, only within the factory. The screen is big enough that objects and people will actually retain their normal size."

"And may I ask exactly _why_ people would want to do this?" Daniel questioned.

"As Mr. Wonka said before, this technology can fully immerse you in any movie or video game of one's choosing," Charlie told him. "To us, it would look like a person is on the screen, like how most video games are. We would only see him or her as if we were looking at a screen. But to the person inside, he or she gets to roam around a fully three-dimensional, virtual world, that feels just as real as the physical world. Therefore, the virtual and the reality are seamless. Allow me to demonstrate with this little robot."

As if on cue, a small, humanoid robot walked up to Mr. Wonka and Charlie. It was about the size of a four-year-old child.

"This little 'bot will now be transported into an arena, where it will engage in battle with other robots," Charlie continued. He then directed his gaze towards the robot. "I want you to go towards the teleporter, to show our guests how this technology works, got it?"

The robot nodded, and it walked towards the center of the room and onto the platform. It stopped once it was directly underneath the saucer-shaped teleporter. A bright, green light began to shine onto the robot.

"The robot's dimensions are currently being scanned, measured, and analyzed," Charlie said. "This system is so advanced that it even works on moving objects. We could make this robot do tricks and dance around if we wanted to, while it's being scanned, and the machine wouldn't be fooled. The physical size of the object will never change."

Chris, Jenna, and Daniel continued to stare at the robot in awe as it began to disintegrate into tiny bits, which ascended upwards and into the teleporter. In just four seconds, the robot had completely disappeared, and the green light faded away.

"It's gone!" Chris exclaimed. "Where is it now?"

"It's being pieced back together on the screen," Charlie told him. "It happens really fast, so come on!" He excitedly ran towards the screen, and the others rushed to join him.

A square arena that resembled a tabletop appeared on the screen, along with three life-sized robots. The game displayed the arena from a top-down perspective, and the robots were stationed at the bottom-right, top-left, and top-right corners.

"Those three robots over there will be our robot's opponents," Charlie said just as a fourth robot materialized on the bottom-left side of the arena. "The robot that just appeared was the one that we sent via the teleporter."

"Get ready to fight," a booming voice sounded, "in three, two, one!"

The four robots charged towards the center of the table, and chaos ensued as the robots violently punched and kicked each other in an attempt to knock their opponents off the arena.

"As you can see, we're watching all the action from a third-person perspective," Charlie said. "The robots, on the other hand, are seeing everything in first-person, in full 3D. To them, that arena is just as real as the room we're standing in right now."

The robot that was sent to the screen by Charlie suddenly performed a roundhouse kick, sending the other three robots flying out of the arena, and confetti rained down as the robot performed a victory dance.

"So, what happens now?" Chris asked.

"Well," Charlie answered, "the robot that won is offered the chance to either keep playing, or to exit the game and return to the real world. It looks like it will choose to do the latter." Sure enough, the robot vanished from the screen, and it slowly materialized onto the platform beneath the teleporter before it darted towards a charging station.

"What will become of the other robots?" Daniel asked, eager for more information.

"The other three robots are now in the Digital Realm," Mr. Wonka replied. "It's where all the game data is stored when it's not in the physical realm. There's nothing but billions of ones and zeroes in there, stuff that I don't understand a single bit, not even eight or sixteen bits." He chuckled at his own joke. "Mike Teavee, one of our previous ticket winners, would have known all about it, though, so go ask him if you have questions."

"Or I can just look it up online," Daniel said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Why do I need some crazy person's help when I can get the information I want from anywhere?"

"Well, I suppose that's true," Mr. Wonka said, "but—"

"Is there a possibility that I could try this virtual reality system out for myself?" Daniel interrupted. "I'm sure it'll be safe. I'm too good at video games to die. Remember, I programmed a professional-quality game in just three hours, all by myself. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, there is a possibility that there could be some bugs in the code," Charlie warned. "I wouldn't go there if I were you, in case something happens."

"I can figure this out, trust me!" Daniel shouted. "It will give me a chance to test a game in the coolest way imaginable! Seriously, the entire video game industry will be revolutionized if you release it out into the world! But _nooo_ , you only plan on keeping it inside this factory of yours, am I right? Of course I am!"

Daniel gritted his teeth and sprinted towards the teleporter, which was already beginning to emit its green beam of light. With his right foot, he launched himself into the air, landing squarely on the platform. Immediately, the teleporter began to analyze Daniel's bodily dimensions. Mr. Sparkman ran as fast as he could towards his son, and his jaw dropped in horror once he realized there was nothing he could do without getting in harm's way.

"I can't _believe_ he'd take such a risk like this!" Mr. Sparkman exclaimed once the powerful beam began to disintegrate Daniel into tiny bits. "He's gonna end up in the Digital Realm, I know it."

"He may, or he may not," Charlie said as he led everyone to the other end of the room. "Don't be so pessimistic. Let's watch the screen."

The screen was initially black, but a few seconds later, it displayed a narrow, dark hallway with several steel doors on both sides of it. The barrel of a rifle occupied the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

"Wow! I think I'm in my own game!" an excited voice cried out. "This is amazing!"

"Yep, that's Daniel's voice all right," Chris said quietly. "Considering he programmed this in just three hours, it's actually quite impressive."

The in-game camera began to move around in circles, indicating that Daniel was looking around the hallway where he now stood.

"It's like I'm actually here," Daniel said, completely awestruck. He banged on one of the doors with his fist, and a loud clang reverberated throughout the whole area. "Yep, that's a steel door, all right. I felt that for real." He cocked his rifle and aimed it at the lock before pulling the trigger, causing an ear-splitting bang to overwhelm every other sound. A cloud of smoke emanated from the broken lock, and Daniel kicked the door open. He sprinted down a long staircase before reaching a large door that had the words: "MAIN SECURITY ROOM - KEEP OUT!" written on it. He blasted the lock open with his rifle, entering a room where a dozen guards monitored every room in the building on hundreds of screens. A blaring alarm started to go off, and the white lights in the room quickly changed to red.

"We have an intruder!" one of the guards exclaimed as he grabbed a handgun, trying to shoot Daniel.

"You're no match for me!" Daniel shouted, and he kicked the guard in the stomach, causing him to clutch his abdomen in agony. "Well, I could say that my video game is running just fine."

"Let's take him down!" another guard shouted as a laser node dropped down from the ceiling. White lasers began to shoot in Daniel's direction, and he dove to the floor, covering his head with his arms. The rifle clattered to the floor.

Suddenly, Daniel had the wind knocked out of him as a guard punched him in the chest with a special glove, which completely immobilized his body. That wasn't the worst of his problems, though, because one of the white laser beams was making its way towards him.

"No!" Daniel screamed as the beam began to shine on his face. For a second, the rest of the tour group, who was watching the action unfold on the screen, could only see a blinding white flash of light, and the whole screen faded to red. A message on the screen read "Game Over" in white letters, and the screen went black. The group stood where they were in shock, and the room was so quiet that they could hear a pin drop.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Mr. Sparkman," Charlie said, his voice echoing all around the room, "but your son is now in the Digital Realm. The Oompa Loompas will have to retrieve him from there, and it will be quite a difficult process. On the bright side, it seems that testing is officially complete, so we can put our invention to use in one of the rooms that branch off of the Recreation Corridor."

"How will they get him out?" Daniel's father said. "Please tell me he'll be alive!"

"Oh, your son will be alive, don't worry," Mr. Wonka told him. "However, a lot of advanced computer hacking will be required to restore him back to his physical form. It will take a while, and the results might not be what you expect, but I promise the Oompa Loompas will get your son out of there."

Mr. Wonka made a trilling sound, and an Oompa Loompa wearing a full-body white suit ran up to him just a few seconds later. The chocolatier knelt down in front of the tiny worker.

"I want you to use every bit of your coding expertise in order to retrieve Daniel Sparkman from the Digital Realm, 'kay? Please escort his father there, too." The Oompa Loompa crossed his arms and bowed his head before walking up to Mr. Sparkman and tugging on his jeans. Mr. Sparkman nervously took the Oompa Loompa's hand before he was led out of the room. Moments later, the sounds of drums and synthesizers filled the area, and thirty Oompa Loompas clad in white suits entered the room. Multicolored spotlights and lasers danced all around the room as the Oompa Loompas began to perform a 90's style rap song.

 _"Poor Daniel Sparkman is a louse_

 _For always clicking with his mouse_

 _And playing games upon the screen._

 _So now, this boy has sadly been_

 _Warped inside the cyber world,_

 _Where his atoms have unfurled._

 _He could not help himself to be_

 _A part of what's on this TV,_

 _So he'll be stuck there perm'nently,_

 _Unless we fetch him out with glee_

 _From the Digital Realm, you see,_

 _Where we'll hear him cry and plea,_

 _'Oh, please, oh, please, come, please, help me!'_

 _And then, from there, we'll finally flee._

 _So now, we hope that this event_

 _Has taught him not to be irreverent_

 _To anything that doesn't glow_

 _Or spews and spouts an action show,_

 _For, in life, much joy is found_

 _From simple things, like earth and ground,_

 _That you can touch and taste and feel,_

 _Not only seen through frames of steel._

 _And hopefully, it will open his mind_

 _To go out and better mankind."_

The Oompa Loompas danced around for a bit while the music died down, and the lights returned to their normal blue color as they left the room, one by one.

"Wow, that was truly something!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, clapping his hands in applause. "Well done! Now that I think about it, this must have been the best elimination yet, even though it turned out to be a rather violent one." He looked at the tour group, which now consisted of Chris, Mr. Davidson, Jenna, and Mr. Adams. "Shall we roll on?"

"Yes, for sure!" Jenna replied, taking Chris' hand as the group followed Willy and Charlie out of the room and back towards the maglev.

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this two-part chapter! Credit for the lyrics for Daniel's song goes to Sonny April. Feel free to review both parts, and let me know what you thought of them. What do you think will happen in the next chapter? You'll find out soon! :)**

 **In case you're wondering where I got the idea for the special power-ups during the race, I took inspiration from the video game _Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing._ In the game, when racers aren't doing so well, they acquire unique power-ups that are specific to each character to help them get back into the race. For example, Sonic becomes Super Sonic, Dr. Eggman's Eggmobile sprouts cannons that fire missiles, and Amy breaks out her Piko-Piko hammer to flatten anything and anyone who gets in her way.**


	23. Down to Two

Chapter 22 - Down to Two

 **Author's note: Hey, everyone! Long time no see! I am very, very sorry that I made you guys wait six months for this chapter. In fact, this is the second-last chapter of "Next in Line", and then I'll finally wrap it up. I've been stressed out with life lately, and I've written and rewritten this entire chapter about seven times, so you can imagine what I was going through. Unfortunately, since I received so many reviews during my absence (from writing, not from FanFiction dot net!), I won't be able to reply to them all...once again. I know, it sucks, but I'd rather not make the author's note longer than it needs to be. So without further ado, on with the story! :)**

 **(Note: credit for the idea for Jenna's trial goes to Sonny April, credit for the Cake Walk goes to Softkitty55, credit for the Sphinx and soda geysers in the Dirt Desert goes to MysteriousMaker1185, and credit for the Slime Candies goes to Tessa.)**

After another 650 mile per hour journey on the maglev, the group found themselves in the same station where they first boarded the train. Chris and Jenna were the first people to leave the train, and they had glowing smiles on their faces.

"I can hardly believe we're the only contestants remaining now," Jenna said to Chris as they disembarked from the maglev. "You know, I am hoping that we'll both win whatever the grand prize is, but I'll be just as happy if one of us wins as well, whether it's you or me. Charlie and Mr. Wonka seem to really like us both, so who knows?"

"I agree with you, Jenna," Chris responded, "but we shouldn't get our hopes up too much just yet. That's still in the near future, and we don't know what might happen between now and then."

"Well, there's one way to find out," Mr. Wonka suddenly spoke, startling Chris as he, along with Charlie and the children's fathers, walked out of the train towards them. "I hope you don't mind that I overheard some of your conversation there."

"It's okay," Chris said, smiling at his idol. "It's not like our conversation was inappropriate or anything. So where are we going next?"

"Well," Charlie told him, "we will be walking through the most unusual corridor in the entire factory. You'll see why I said that very soon. It was a corridor that I designed all by myself, back when I was still a preteen. I even helped the Oompa Loompas while they were building it! Come along, everyone!"

Mr. Wonka and Charlie walked to the front of the group, and they led their guests towards another round door that branched off the platform. On this door, there was a combination lock.

"Ninety-nine, forty-four, one-hundred percent pure," Charlie mumbled as he fiddled with the lock. Eventually, it beeped and the door automatically swung open to reveal a brightly-colored hallway. The walls, floor, and ceiling appeared to be made of translucent, multicolored cubes.

"Whoa!" Chris exclaimed as he crossed the threshold and stepped onto one of the cubes. "Is it just me, or is the floor kind of bouncy?"

"No, it's not just you," Charlie replied as he hopped and skipped ahead of everyone else. "The entire corridor is made of synthetic gelatin. Even the doors are made of gelatin, but they are opaque instead of translucent. Speaking of which, I have something to show you." They had reached a blue door that was labeled: "CAKE WALK".

"Cake Walk?" Chris' father asked, scratching his chin with a finger as he read the label. "Is there supposed to be a dance floor in there?"

"It's not that kind of cake walk," Mr. Wonka answered as he pushed a glowing button on the wall, causing the door to automatically slide out of the way. "You'll see what I mean."

The group entered a room with a gigantic, circular race track that was made from several thick layers of cake. The surface of the track was coated with a thick layer of chocolate frosting, and on top of that were millions of sprinkles that came in every color imaginable.

"This is what we mean by 'Cake Walk'," Charlie explained. He pointed at a team of Oompa Loompas who were happily jogging on the track. "Those Oompa Loompas are testing the cake's consistency, to make sure it's not rock-hard, but not too soft either, otherwise that would hinder your ability to run on its surface."

"So it's literally a cake that you can walk or run on," Jenna said in awe as she watched the Oompa Loompas running multiple laps around the track.

"Precisely!" Charlie said, giving her a thumbs-up. "As you can see, the nice thing about it is that the cake does not get squashed. You would only leave a footprint for a second or two, and then it disappears forever. If we had more time, we could all try it out, but for the sake of the tour, we must press on."

"We're fine with that," Chris and Jenna replied at the same time as the group proceeded to leave the room. They looked at each other with surprised expressions on their faces.

"How did that happen?" Chris asked her. "We said the same thing at the same time."

"That sure was a coincidence," Jenna said once everyone resumed their journey down the corridor. "I guess when people say that they have a 'sixth sense', they are correct." Chris shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, not saying a word.

The group strolled (and in Charlie's case, hopped) past three more doors: "FUDGE FOREST", "COCONUT ICE CASTLE", and "DIRT DESERT".

"Uhh, isn't that supposed to be dirt dessert?" Jenna's father inquired, pointing at the label on the third door. "You forgot to add the second 's'."

"No, it's supposed to be Dirt Desert," Charlie corrected. "It's not a typo. We can go in, if you wish to do so."

"Sure!" Chris said. "We would love to see it." Turning to Jenna, he asked, "What about you?" She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up in response.

"By all means," Mr. Wonka responded with a smile. Like the door to the Cake Walk, he pressed a button on the wall, and the door slid out of the way to reveal a vast desert with fine, golden sand, cacti made from spearmint, and the occasional rock candy boulder. Off in the distance, there was an oasis, as well as a row of colorful pyramids.

"Wow, it's hot in here," Chris' father remarked, wiping his forehead with his arm. "I should have brought a water bottle."

"Dad, remember that it's a desert, so of course the temperature would be hot," Chris told him. "The room sure looks interesting, though!"

"The sand that you're walking on is made from vanilla cookie crumbs," Charlie proudly explained as the group walked deeper into the desert, "so you can eat the sand, and almost everything else in this room."

Suddenly, Chris yelped in surprise as he accidentally stepped on a large, red gummy snake. The snake angrily hissed at him before quickly slithering away.

"Oh, and please do mind the creatures that are moving about," Mr. Wonka warned as a scorpion made from black licorice crawled across both of his highly-polished shoes. "They're technically sentient candies, so they don't bite, but they really don't like being trodden on."

"Is that a Sphinx over there?" Jenna asked, pointing to a gargantuan, strange-looking statue about a hundred feet away from where she stood. It had the head of an Oompa Loompa and the body of a Cocoa Cat.

"Why, yes, it certainly is!" Mr. Wonka replied before he let out a soft giggle. "The Sphinx is made from graham cracker crumbs that have been compressed to form a solid shape. It's a wonderful feat of engineering, that's for sure."

"Just like virtually everything else in this amazing factory," Chris added as a life-size camel made of Never-Melting caramel walked in front of him. Charlie and Mr. Wonka warmly smiled at Chris in response.

"Thank you for your kind words, Chris," Charlie responded. "Now, before we leave, we should show you the oasis."

After a few minutes of walking across the hot sand, the group reached the oasis, which consisted of a large lake of blue liquid. Every once in a while, a row of nearby geysers erupted, sending explosive bursts of brightly-colored liquid high into the air.

Mr. Wonka pointed at the lake with his cane. "You see that lake, everyone? It's filled with blueberry milkshake, and it's very cold. The Oompa Loompas sometimes bathe in it for therapeutic purposes. Remember that they are used to an extremely hot climate, so they don't mind the desert. By the way, the Coconut Ice Castle next door is the exact opposite. It's very cold in there, but there's a hot spring in the center of the castle. The Oompa Loompas like to relax there as well."

"Is that soda coming out of those geysers?" Chris' father inquired, pointing to one of the geysers as it sent a jet of red liquid about fifty feet into the air.

"You're absolutely correct!" Charlie said, giving him a high-five. "As you can see, they shoot out different types of soda, such as orange, grape, root beer, cream soda, raspberry, and snozzberry!"

"What on Earth is a snozzberry?" Jenna asked.

"You don't want to know," Mr. Wonka softly replied. "The answer is not appropriate. I remember some of the Oompa Loompas were asking me if I was smoking weed when I came up with the snozzberry flavor long ago, but it was only because my imagination went just a little too far. Nonetheless, being as mischievous as they were, they seemed to approve of it."

"Well, if we had more time," Charlie said, "we could have explored even more of the Dirt Desert, but I'm afraid we must continue the tour."

 _Hopefully we'll go to the Music Conservatory soon_ , Jenna thought as she walked with the group towards the exit. _I'm excited to show Chris my talents, especially since he's a fan of our band, and he's my best friend now. Then again, I did kiss him earlier in the Sour Dragons room..._

"Jenna, why are you so quiet all of a sudden?" Chris asked, snapping Jenna out of her thoughts. "Your face was blank for a while."

"It's nothing," Jenna quickly replied, shaking her head. "I just hope I get to treat you to a live performance sometime soon, whether it's in the Music Conservatory or sometime after the tour."

"I understand, Jenna," Chris said softly, taking her hand. "I know you're excited, but please don't act like you're impatient, okay?" Jenna nodded, and the two children caught up to the adults just as they reached the exit. As soon as everyone exited the Dirt Desert and found themselves back in the corridor, the door slid shut behind them.

"I hope you don't mind, everyone," Charlie announced, "but in order for us to visit our next room, we will need to use another method of transportation."

"No, we don't mind at all!" Jenna said eagerly. "What will we be using now? Something different?"

"Oh, yes," Charlie said, grinning. "We'll be riding the Chocolate Yule Log Flume!"

Chris' father looked at Charlie quizzically. "First a rapids ride, then a roller coaster, then a log flume. What's after that? A water slide? Ferris wheel? Top Spin? Zipper? You've got a whole amusement park inside this factory!"

"Sorry," Mr. Wonka apologized. "The water slide we use as a transportation method is temporarily out of order. Of course, there's always the Fizzy Lemonade Water Park that we walked past earlier."

"But we didn't get to see the inside of that room," Jenna reminded him. "You only _told_ us what it's like in there."

"That would just take too much time," Chris said to her. "We'd be in there for hours and hours."

"You're right," Jenna responded, lowering her head ever so slightly. "Let's just carry on. I can hardly wait to see what this log flume will be like!"

The group reached a door that was labeled: "CHOCOLATE YULE LOG FLUME".

"All right, here's the entrance to the log flume," Mr. Wonka announced, pushing a button to open the door. Once it slid out of the way, the group found themselves in the ride's station, which was a large room made almost entirely out of rock-solid chocolate bricks. A log-shaped vehicle with a brown and white swirl design on each end was waiting on a track, and it had three rows of two seats.

"Let's take the front row," Jenna said, grabbing Chris' arm as she led him into the front row of the log. Chris' and Jenna's fathers sat beside each other in the second row, and Mr. Wonka and Charlie sat in the back row.

An Oompa Loompa walked up to the group once they took their seats, and he pushed down their lap bars to secure everyone. He then walked up to a control console, gave the group a thumbs-up, and pressed a button. The log began to smoothly roll out of the station, floating down a dark, narrow canal of liquid chocolate. Multicolored LED's on each side of the canal began to illuminate, providing a dim view of the path up ahead.

"This should be a nice change from all the mayhem that we experienced before," Chris quietly said to Jenna. "I love roller coasters, too, but it's nice to at least have a slow method of transportation for once."

The log slowly meandered into a small cave, and after a turn to the left, the group emerged into a room with machinery that processed huge slabs of rock candy.

"This is the Rock Candy Refinery," Mr. Wonka told everyone as they floated along. "It processes rock candy slabs that came straight from the Rock Candy Mine, and a waterjet cutter machines those rough pieces so that they can be used in the other rooms which create finished rock candy products."

Everyone watched as an enormous slab of rock candy entered the room via a conveyor belt. A robotic arm picked up the slab via suction and brought it to the waterjet cutter, which cleanly sliced the slab in half, then into quarters, with a powerful jet of water. The four resulting pieces were trimmed once again by the waterjet cutter in order to remove any rough edges, and then the robotic arm grabbed each piece, one at a time, and placed them onto another conveyor belt which sent them out of the room.

"Well, that was interesting," Chris said in awe. "And this whole cutting process was done with just water?"

"We use a slight amount of abrasive as well," Charlie told him. "It helps to cut the rock candy faster. I'm not kidding when I say this, but the water leaves the machine at over three times the speed of sound." Chris' and Jenna's jaws dropped upon hearing that fact, and they glanced over their shoulders to look at the adults before turning to face forward again. Suddenly, Jenna began to shiver as the log entered the next room. Her shoulders were tense and her arms were tightly crossed over her chest.

"I-is it just me, o-or is it g-get-ting really c-cold in here?" she asked, her voice broken up by the sound of her teeth chattering.

"Lady and gentlemen," Charlie proudly announced, "welcome to the Coconut Ice Castle!"

The room was dominated by a pink castle that was almost as big as the factory's main building. The whole structure was made out of solid ice, and it stretched nearly two-hundred feet into the air. The ground was made from hard vanilla ice cream, and the bridge that led across the castle's moat consisted of enormous popsicle sticks. Tiny snowflakes made of shredded coconut lazily drifted down from the sky, which had a somewhat purple hue to it. Thousands of twinkling stars, as well as a shimmering aurora, provided light to the area.

"This is the room I told you about while we were in the middle of the Dirt Desert," Willy told everyone. "The Oompa Loompas use this room for therapeutic reasons, since there's a hot spring inside. The hot spring is filled with lemon lime soda, and there are lights underneath that slowly change color every few seconds, as well as candles that surround the area. I think they call it mood lighting, if I'm not mistaken."

After floating through a short tunnel, the flume led everyone around the perimeter of a large, circular room that was reminiscent of the original Nut Sorting Room. There was a green-and-white swirl design on the floor, and instead of squirrels, two-hundred giant slugs were coating tiny green candies with slime as they moved along a conveyor belt.

"Welcome to the Slime Candy Room!" Charlie announced. "This is another prank candy, and it's virtually impossible to hold due to all the slime that it's coated with. If you somehow manage to eat one, be prepared for a surprise. You know how you have glands under your skin that produce sweat, right? Well, for about two hours, those glands will be producing slime instead, so you'd be covered in slime from head to toe."

"I bet Tyler would have loved one of those," Chris' father mumbled, shaking his head in disgust. Fortunately for him, the ride through the Slime Candy Room didn't last long, and the log traveled into another dark tunnel.

"We're getting closer to our final destination," Mr. Wonka spoke, "but there are still a couple of more surprises to come."

"Such as?" Chris asked, but he was quickly silenced by Jenna.

"They won't be surprises anymore if he told you what they are," Jenna whispered into Chris' ear.

A strobe light suddenly went off, accompanied by a loud bang that freaked everyone out, and then all of the lights powered down, leaving the area in total darkness. Eerie music started playing as the log began to ascend a lift hill, and the clickity-clackity sounds from the chain lift only added to the cacophony.

"Now _this_ is what I like," Jenna said as they continued their upwards journey. "I've got a feeling that there will be a big drop coming up!"

Several seconds later, the nose of the log began to level out, and the lift stopped, making the sound of a coil tightening. A holographic projection of Mr. Wonka was staring at the group, and his face was contorted into a twisted, evil grin. The pupils of his eyes were starting to glow red.

"Your journey ends here, my helpless guests," he spoke in a deep, booming voice, and he let out a laugh that was so loud that it made the entire log tremble. Fireballs erupted from all around, nearly scorching the group with intense heat and light, and then a chorus of screams echoed throughout the area as the log plunged down a terrifying, near-vertical drop.

Ten stories down, the log landed hard, soaking everyone to the bone with liquid chocolate.

"Nooooo!" Jenna cried, reaching up to fix her messy, chocolate-soaked hair. "My hair is ruined! I forgot we were going to land in chocolate instead of water!"

"So is mine!" Chris complained. "At least it won't take too much time to gel my spikes again."

"No worries," Charlie told them reassuringly as liquid chocolate dripped all the way down his formerly red top hat. "We'll all receive a good cleaning shortly."

The log turned another corner, and it slowly traveled through a chamber that resembled a car wash, with strange-looking brushes and nozzles that tickled and sprayed everyone on board with strange liquids, followed by a blast of hot air to dry them off.

"Thank goodness for that," Jenna sighed, running her hands through her hair and clothes, which were now cleaner than ever before. "I was worried I'd look like a freak for the rest of the day!"

"What was that contraption we just went through?" Chris inquired, also feeling his hair. _I'll have to gel it back up when I get home_ , he thought.

"That was the Hsawaknow," Charlie replied with a grin.

"That's the strangest word I've heard all day," Chris' father said. "Is that in some foreign language, like Korean or Japanese?"

"No, it's Wonka Wash spelled backwards, haha!" Mr. Wonka answered in a rather childlike, high-pitched voice. "We have several of them throughout the factory along most of our major transportation routes in case things get messy, like what just happened. You don't wanna be covered in chocolate all day like Antonio now, do you?" There was silence for several seconds. "I didn't think so."

Seconds later, the log entered a station which was identical to the one where they first boarded the ride, and the lap bars were automatically released once the ride came to a complete stop.

"That ride was awesome!" Jenna exclaimed as she jumped out of the log and onto the station platform. "At least the cleaning we received at the end was even more thorough than a bath. Did you have a favorite part, Chris? Mine was the drop."

"I enjoyed the drop as well," Chris told her, "but I loved that evil version of Mr. Wonka that we saw just before the drop. Willy sure knows how to be creative."

"Well, thanks for the indirect compliment," Mr. Wonka replied with a smile. "I'm glad you kids enjoyed the ride as much as you did. The evil version of myself, believe it or not, was not my idea. You can thank the Oompa Loompas for coming up with it, but it's a very long story, so we won't go there."

"That sure was one heck of a ride," Jenna's father said, wiping the sweat off his brow with his right arm. "That Sankawehkahows or whatever it was called—"

"Just call it the Wonka Wash, okay?" Mr. Wonka pleaded. "Anyway, we'll be entering the Recreation Corridor next. Follow me." He led the group towards a door that led to the Recreation Corridor, and the door automatically opened as soon as he stood in front of it.

The Recreation Corridor was a brightly-colored hallway with several large, round doors on each side. They each had vault-like handles on them, similar to the rooms that they had visited earlier.

"This corridor is where most of our recreation facilities are housed, hence the name," Charlie told the group as he led everyone past a door that was labeled: "BOWLING ALLEY". "In case you're wondering, we don't use gigantic Gobstoppers in this room. We just use regular bowling balls."

"Can we take a peek inside?" Chris inquired.

"Not now," Mr. Wonka responded. "There's so much more to see, and we don't have all day. Sorry."

"No apology needed," Chris said as the group passed another door: "MINIATURE GOLF".

"That sounds like fun," Jenna said. "My dad is a golfer, believe it or not."

"Really?" Chris asked, surprised. "I never knew that about him."

"Well, now you do," Jenna replied, winking at him. "He prefers full-size golf courses, but he enjoys mini golf since it helps him to perfect his putting skills."

After passing more doors that led to the basketball, tennis, and squash courts, Mr. Wonka halted everyone at the next door. It was labeled: "MUSIC CONSERVATORY".

"Yes, here we are!" Jenna squealed with excitement upon reading the label.

"I knew that you've been eagerly waiting for this since the beginning of the tour," Charlie said with a warm smile. "Are you ready?"

"Definitely!" she said, grinning from ear to ear with excitement. "For sure! Let's go in! Come on, Chris." As soon as Mr. Wonka opened the big, round door, Jenna grabbed Chris' hand and she sped into the room, pulling him across the threshold.

"Ah, kids," Chris' father sighed, shaking his head as Jenna and his son vanished out of sight. "So youthful and filled with boundless energy. I can tell they're both excited."

"And they have a good reason to be excited," Jenna's father said, "if my daughter's going to do what I think she'll do."

"There's only one way to find out," Charlie said, gesturing for them to enter the Music Conservatory. Charlie and Mr. Wonka were the last two people to enter, and as soon as they were inside, the door closed behind them.

Jenna's jaw dropped as she looked around the Music Conservatory. There were rows upon rows of music stands in the center of the massive room, and a grand piano sat on a raised, circular platform at the very back.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Music Conservatory," Charlie proudly announced, spreading his arms wide. "This is where the Oompa Loompas, as well as Mr. Wonka and myself, compose, rehearse, record, and perform our original music. Of course, we also enjoy spending some of our free time here. We even have jam sessions with the Oompa Loompas every once in a while."

The group began to walk around the perimeter of the room. They strolled past a row of doors which led to the various recording booths and practice rooms.

"This is just amazing," Chris' father whispered to himself as a rack of sophisticated workstation keyboards caught his eye. After the group passed an open door to a room full of vintage electric guitars, the two chocolatiers stopped in front of a brass-plated door with a design that depicted a dancing Oompa Loompa.

"Through here, please," Mr. Wonka said as he pushed a glowing button on the wall, and the door slid out of the way to reveal an astonishing sight.

The group emerged onto the stage of an enormous concert hall, and a deafening roar of applause echoed throughout the whole area. A dozen blue spotlights shone their beams on Mr. Wonka, Charlie, and their guests. Chris held his hand above his eyes like a visor to shield them from the blinding light, and he noticed that the audience consisted of hundreds of Oompa Loompas.

The stage itself was no less spectacular. The entire floor was glowing blue, and at the back of the stage was a five-story tall "W", and it was changing color every few seconds. In the very center of the stage was a large circle on the floor, and it was adorned with glowing musical notes.

Off to the left side of the stage was a glass table with a touch-sensitive display built into it. Four Oompa Loompa judges were sitting at the table, and they were dressed in navy-blue suits and ties. Four more Oompa Loompas stood at the very back of the stage. One was holding an eight-string electric guitar, another stood behind a keyboard, and a third was sitting behind an enormous drum set. The fourth Oompa Loompa, the vocalist, was holding a microphone in his right hand. His hair was much longer than that of the other band members.

"An eight-string guitar?" Chris said to himself as he directed his gaze towards the guitarist. "I wonder if he can djent."

"This setup reminds me of American Idol!" Chris' father said excitedly. "I used to watch that show all the time when I was younger."

"Well, this is pretty much the same," Mr. Wonka replied, "except this is my version." He walked up to the center of the stage, and a glass podium automatically rose up from under the floor. He stood in front of it and spoke into the microphone: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our long-anticipated event!" The audience immediately fell silent, and the hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. "We've been waiting for this moment for more than a week. Let's hear you give it up for Jenna Adams!" The audience erupted in applause once more as Mr. Wonka motioned for Jenna to walk up to the judges' table.

"So," one of the Oompa Loompa judges asked her, "you play the bass, am I correct?" Jenna nodded in response. "Well, tonight you'll have the chance to show us what you're made of. I've heard that the songs your band plays are very technical, right?" She nodded again. The Oompa Loompa spoke in his native language to the one beside him, who got up from his chair and walked through a small doorway before vanishing out of sight.

"I wonder where he's going," Chris said to himself, but his question was answered moments later as the Oompa Loompa emerged from the doorway. He was carrying a shiny, black, five-string bass guitar in his hands, and he carefully handed the instrument over to Jenna, who immediately began adjusting the strap to fit around her shoulders.

"Here's your challenge, Jenna," another judge said once Jenna finished adjusting the strap. "You will be sight-reading a piece of music on a screen that will appear in front of you. Try playing it without making any mistakes. This is your chance to show us your technical prowess. You'll be accompanied by a few of us playing other instruments."

"Good luck!" Chris shouted. "You can do it!"

"Bring it on," Jenna said confidently. A large screen descended from the ceiling, and it displayed a very complicated piece of music. She took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

A heavy guitar riff drowned out every other sound in the room for a few seconds, followed by pummeling blast beats as a progressive metal song began, with Jenna playing the bass. Charlie and Mr. Wonka swiftly removed their top hats and began headbanging to the music. After a fast stream of notes, which both the guitarist and the keyboardist played in unison, the singer ran up to the front of the stage.

 _"Facing her inauguration,_

 _It's really quite a sensation,_

 _That this girl doesn't seem so bad._

 _To not consider her because_

 _Of her dislike for choc'late_

 _Would truly be cruel and sad._

 _She could very well be our friend,_

 _Since we all love music till the end."_

 _So it seems Jenna won't be eliminated after all, even though she has a song!_ Chris silently said to himself, trying not to smile too much. A keyboard solo began, and some of the Oompa Loompas in the audience marched down the stairs and onto the stage, where they began to surround Jenna.

 _"She's everything we wanted,_

 _We knew it from the start._

 _No obstacles to overcome,_

 _Because she's a kind girl at heart."_

After a short drum solo, followed by a quick piano riff, the next verse began.

 _"Music is an unseen power,_

 _One which we all share._

 _This prowess is either there or not,_

 _Can't be seen, but can be heard._

 _Fire and flame, snow and ice,_

 _The rush of the wind and the drums of thunder._

 _Who knew they can come alive,_

 _With nothing but sonic bliss?_

 _Who knew that such a soft, sweet girl_

 _Could possess almighty demons inside? Sing along!"_

The spotlights turned towards the Oompa Loompas in the audience, who were wildly headbanging and rocking out to the music.

 _"You're everything we wanted,_

 _We knew it from the start._

 _No obstacles to overcome,_

 _Because you're a kind girl at heart!"_

Suddenly, the music became even heavier, leading into a furious instrumental section which consisted of crushing riffs, fast, technical passages, a keyboard solo, and a guitar solo. The riffs were getting faster and faster, right up until a short break, and then the tempo increased even more as Jenna began to shred, her fingers lost in a blur of notes. The Oompa Loompas in the band were shredding their instruments as well, and they were almost on fire by the time the song neared its end. A brutal drum solo, as well as two more seconds of Jenna shredding, closed the song off. The crowd cheered louder than ever as Jenna lifted the bass high above her head with one arm. The drummer stood up from his chair and proceeded to juggle his drumsticks in the air, the guitarist smashed his guitar on the floor, the keyboardist began to softly play the main melody of Beethoven's "Für Elise", and the singer walked up to the front of the stage, throwing his microphone high into the air before skillfully catching it with his hands.

"Thank you, everyone!" the vocalist exclaimed. "This has been a memorable performance. Thank you so much for coming, everyone, and let's keep our spirits high! Once again, give it up for our guest performer, Jenna Adams!" Jenna walked up to the front of the stage and bowed deeply, just enough so that her hair was almost touching the floor. She then raised her right arm, proudly displaying the sign of the horns, and she walked back towards the judges' table, where she returned the bass to one of the Oompa Loompas.

"We've got great news for you, Jenna," another judge said. Each of the four judges tapped on the glass table to bring up their scores, and they all displayed the number 10. "We unanimously decided to give you a score of ten due to your sheer technical prowess. Progressive metal is one of the hardest genres of music around, and since you're a member of a prog band, we had a feeling this wouldn't be much of a challenge for you. Well done."

Jenna bowed her head once again in response. The Oompa Loompas in the audience gave one last roar of applause, and they began to leave the area soon after. Jenna caught up with Chris and the others as they re-entered the Music Conservatory. The sliding door that led into the concert hall closed as soon as Jenna crossed the threshold.

"You've truly done it!" Charlie congratulated Jenna as he gave her a high-five. "We couldn't have expected anything other than a stellar performance, knowing what genre of music you play. Way to go!"

"Thank you so much, Charlie," she said humbly. "I know that it's down to only Chris and myself now, but it truly doesn't matter whether or not I win the—"

"Jenna, you should check this out!" Chris suddenly exclaimed, interrupting her conversation with Charlie. She turned around to see that he was investigating a tablet which was placed on one of the music stands. Curious, she slowly began to walk towards Chris. "I think these were the songs that played during the tour," Chris said, pointing to a list of song titles on the screen. "At least the first few, anyway."

"This seems rather interesting," Jenna muttered as she began to scroll through the list:

 _Wonka's Welcome Song_

 _Skydiving May Be Fun (Antonio Ricci)_

 _A Sad, Sad Fate (Yuna Sayuki)_

 _The Prankster, the Joker, the Crazy Smiler (Tyler Smith)_

 _Citrus Shell (Mindy Bell)_

 _Digital Realm (Daniel Sparkman)_

 _A Kind Girl at Heart (Jenna Adams)_

 _Chris, the Champion (Chris Davidson)_

 _Augustus Gloop_

 _Violet Beauregarde_

 _Veruca Salt_

 _Mike Teavee_

 _Seether_

 _Volcano Girls_

 _Shutterbug_

 _Number One Blind_

 _All Hail Me_

"So I guess Daniel's father was right all along," Jenna said, smiling slightly. "This contest must have been rigged so that whoever was on their best behavior would be the winner. And look at my song title, 'A Kind Girl at Heart'. I am certain that this could mean something. You're almost certainly not the only winner."

"Jenna," Chris said in a rather urgent tone as he took her hand, "we'd best talk to Mr. Wonka and Charlie to find out for sure. Let's go."

The two chocolatiers, who were having a conversation with Mr. Davidson and Mr. Adams, turned towards Chris and Jenna upon hearing their footsteps.

"Chris Davidson and Jenna Adams," Mr. Wonka said in a serious tone, "is it really down to just the two of you now? You're sure I'm not dreaming?"

Jenna shook her head. "I can assure you that you're most certainly _not_ dreaming," she told him.

"So...you're really the only ones left?" he asked. Chris and Jenna both nodded in response. "What happened to the others?"

Chris was about to answer, but he chose to stay silent. However, he couldn't help but alternate his gaze between Jenna, Mr. Wonka, and Charlie, all of whom were smiling at him. He softly smiled back at them, and it quickly evolved into a joyful grin. Finally, Mr. Wonka removed his black top hat, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Oh, my dear children," he cried excitedly, "you two have won!"

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Once again, I'm sorry that it was way overdue. I hope the lyrics for "A Kind Girl at Heart" weren't too cheesy, because honestly, I am quite bad at writing lyrics and poetry in general. By the way, those last five songs that were listed (starting with Seether) were written by an alternative band called Veruca Salt, so I thought I could slip it in as an Easter egg, so to speak, because the band is obviously named after one of the original brats. :)**

 **What do you think will happen next? And what do you think the other five children will look like after all they've been through? Feel free to answer these questions in your review, and stay tuned for the final chapter of "Next in Line"! :D**


	24. The End of the Tour

Chapter 23 - The End of the Tour

 **Author's note: Hey, readers! This is it, the last actual chapter of "Next in Line", and it's a big one! There will be an epilogue after this, just to let you know. This time, I'll respond to each of your reviews, and I'll do the same with the epilogue, because I'm sure you'll want me to acknowledge your thoughts and opinions as we near the end.**

 **On a serious note, it seems that the CatCF community has become rather stagnant lately. It's just something I noticed, and I'd hate to see this wonderful fandom grind to a halt. In other words, keep those stories (and updates) coming! :) Now, it's response time.**

 **First off, to those who made predictions on what would happen in this chapter, just keep reading to find out.**

 **Atarya QueenofEgypt, yep, Chris won! And so did Jenna! How do yeh like that? ;)**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I'm glad you enjoyed Jenna's song. That meant a lot to me, considering that it was the hardest one to write, without a doubt. You'll find the answers to your questions soon!**

 **Softkitty55, thanks for the compliments! I'm glad the Cake Walk room was everything you wanted it to be. You'll find out how the others ended up very soon.**

 **dragonserpent18, will he, or won't he? That is the question. All I'm gonna say is that one of the kids will go...a little berserk.**

 **Ethannalon A. Hilliard, you'll find the answer to your question later in this chapter.**

 **Emma Hill, yep, I finally updated it! Woot woot! You'll find out what might happen very soon.**

 **Guest, oh, just you wait till we get to mentioning Tyler! :D**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, yup, they found out what the elimination songs were. You'll find out what the other five children will look like soon! Also, I read your review from July 1st, and I'm glad you liked the code for the combination lock! It was obviously a reference to the 1971 movie. :)**

 **MysteriousMaker1185, thank you for the suggestions on what to include in the Dirt Desert! I'm glad you enjoyed reading about them. And as I've said to quite a few other people already, you'll find out what will happen soon!**

 **Sonny April, I slipped the part about Mr. Wonka smoking weed in there as a sort of joke. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. :P As for the slugs on the conveyor belt, you can thank Tessa for that idea. You were the one who suggested that Jenna's trial should be an American Idol-like contest. I appreciate your criticism about the dialogue, by the way. Honestly, I've been trying to work on it, but even I had a feeling that the previous chapter could have been written better in terms of dialogue.**

 **Guest, please read my response to Sonny April, since your review was rather similar to his.**

 **TheIndividualist, what exactly about the last chapter wasn't satisfying for you? Please PM me so that I can know what to work on. :)**

 **Tessa, thanks for your review! The Dirt Desert and Cake Walk were my favorite rooms to write about, so I'm glad you enjoyed them! Thank you so much for the Slime Candies idea. :)**

 **Guest, the outro to Jenna's song was inspired by "This Dying Soul" by Dream Theater. Just fast-forward to about 8:45 in the song, and that's where it begins. It's one of their heaviest songs, without a doubt.**

 **FanFicStalker, this is the last actual chapter, and I'll publish the epilogue in a few days.**

 **TheFastFox, you'll find out how I'll wrap it up soon!**

 **FYI, this is the longest single chapter I've ever written to date, being nearly 8,000 words in length. Don't just scroll down to see what happens in the end! Enjoy the whole chapter, because it will cover a lot of ground, and it should answer most of your questions. Now, on with the story! :)**

 **(Note: there will be some violence in this chapter. It's nothing too graphic, but it can be intense for some people, so you've been warned.)**

"Yes!" Chris yelled in excitement, triumphantly raising his fist in the air. Jenna ran up to Chris with her arms outstretched and tightly hugged him for a few seconds, and with all of his strength, Chris carefully swept her up off the floor and spun around once before lowering her back down to the ground. "I can't believe it, Jenna! We both won the contest!"

Mr. Wonka grabbed Chris' hand and shook it furiously, and Charlie hugged Jenna.

"I do congratulate you both, I really do," Mr. Wonka said to Chris. "This is the first time we've had two winners, and I knew that you, Chris, would be one of them. Well done. Now we mustn't dilly, or dally, because we still have several things to do before the day is out!"

"What are we going to do next?" Jenna asked.

"We're going back to the Chocolate Room," Charlie answered. "We'll meet up with everyone else there, so that we can make an announcement stating that you guys are the winners. Let's go!" He and Charlie hastily led the group out of the Music Conservatory and back into the Recreation Corridor. They began to walk towards another pair of transparent elevator doors, which were near the end of the hallway.

"What is our prize?" Chris inquired. "Or is it too early to ask now?"

"You'll find out shortly," Charlie told him, making a beeline for the doors. "We have so few things left to do and so much time to do them! Wait! Strike that. Reverse it. Anyway, we still have the Great Glass Elevator to speed things—OOF!" He suddenly banged his face on the doors and fell flat on his back. Chris ran over to him.

"Are you okay, Charlie?" Chris asked concernedly. He reached towards the younger chocolatier to help him up, but Charlie gently pushed his arm away.

"You don't need to assist me, Chris," an embarrassed Charlie said as he got back onto his feet. "It happens to me and Mr. Wonka almost all the time." He pushed the button that was located beside the doors to summon the Great Glass Elevator, which arrived several seconds later. With a chime, the doors slid open.

"Come on!" Mr. Wonka said as he gestured for everyone to board the elevator once again. "We don't have all day!" Once everyone was comfortably inside, he pressed two buttons, one after the other. The first button was labeled: "OVERSIZED JELLO SCULPTURE ROOM", and the second was labeled: "CHOCOLATE ROOM". The doors began to close, and he pushed another button. "Hold on tight, everyone. We're going down!"

True to his word, the Great Glass Elevator suddenly dropped, causing its occupants to become nearly weightless.

"We're going a long way down," Charlie said ominously as they picked up speed. "A long, long way down."

"Where exactly are we going?" Jenna asked.

"We'll take you past the Oversized Jello Sculpture Room, and it's one of the deepest rooms in the entire factory," Mr. Wonka said with a smile. "The sculptures you'll see are, you guessed it, oversized! You'll see what I mean shortly."

"Hopefully everyone else will be okay," Chris said while the elevator continued its downward journey, passing by several underground rooms so quickly that they were just a blur. "I'm worried about Antonio, in particular, since he could have died from that mindless jump off the waterfall. If not that, then I bet he's been seriously injured. Hopefully the Oompa-Loompas would have fixed him up by now, because I know what your candies are capable of doing to the human body. If they can cause you to glow in the dark, make you younger or older, and make your toes grow as long as your fingers, then I'm sure you have one that can repair broken bones, right?"

"We do, yes," Mr. Wonka replied, "but we haven't released them out to the public. However, since we have a hospital inside the factory, I'm sure Antonio will come out just fine. Please, Chris, don't worry about him."

"What about the others?" Jenna asked. "Will they be okay?"

Don't worry, their fates weren't nearly as bad as Antonio's," Charlie reassured her. "Everyone, including Antonio, will return back to normal sooner than later."

The Great Glass Elevator began to slow its descent, and it came to a stop before it started to slowly move sideways. It traveled into a room that was filled with odd-looking blobs, the shortest of which were about six feet tall. They came in multiple colors, and they all appeared to be slightly translucent.

"This is the Oversized Jello Sculpture Room," Mr. Wonka announced as the Great Glass Elevator slowly cruised past the blobs. "It's for Jello sculptures that are too big to fit in our regular Jello Sculpture Room."

"I wouldn't call those sculptures," Chris said, pointing at one of the blobs. "They just look like random lumps of, uhh, Jello."

"Trust me," Charlie said, "you ain't seen nothing yet."

As they continued on, the Jello structures were no longer random blobs. Now, they were in specific shapes, with cubes being the most common, but there were also spheres and pyramids. Soon, the shapes grew even more complex, and everyone's jaws dropped in awe as they passed life-sized sculptures of the Titanic, the CN Tower, and the Empire State Building. Soon afterwards, the Great Glass Elevator became shrouded in darkness as it left the room.

"That was amazing," Jenna commented. "How long did it take you guys to build that?"

"Quite a long time," Mr. Wonka said. "It took about four years, from start to finish. We had to send in an army of drones and helicopters to help build the really tall sculptures."

"How did you even get them into the factory?" Chris asked, but Mr. Wonka silenced him.

"I'll tell you later," he replied. "Charlie, where are we right now? I can't see in this level of darkness."

"We're just getting aligned with the track that will take us straight into the Chocolate Room," Charlie said as the elevator slowed down again. "It will be a fast ascent, so once again, hang on!"

The elevator stopped moving, and a click was heard as it engaged with another set of rails. Without warning, it quickly rose upwards, and the G-forces pinned everyone down to the floor. A howling sound came from outside the elevator as it kept accelerating like it had solid-propellant rockets on board.

"Uh, Mr. Wonka? I think we're going way too fast," Chris' father said nervously.

"Well, we need to get there quickly, because the remaining children are on their way right now," Charlie said. "I want us to meet each of them as they enter the room one by one."

"But what if the speed causes the glass to break?" Jenna asked.

"That's nonsense," Mr. Wonka answered, furiously shaking his head. "The Great Glass Elevator has been subjected to forces much stronger than this. I, along with Charlie and his family, went to outer space and back in this very method of transportation, not long after Charlie became the heir of my factory. The speed at which we re-entered the Earth's atmosphere was great enough that the glass glowed red in certain areas, but we were perfectly safe inside." He took a moment to look upwards, craning his neck as he did so. The end of the rail was quickly approaching, and Chris tightly squeezed Jenna's hand.

"Hold on, everyone!" Charlie shouted as a pair of doors above them slid open in the blink of an eye, and before they knew it, the Great Glass Elevator shot out of the tunnel and into the Chocolate Room. Mr. Wonka quickly pressed a button, and four reverse-thrusting rockets emerged, slowing their ascent until they were hovering like a helicopter.

"Wow, what a beautiful view," Jenna said in astonishment as she gazed at the Chocolate Room from high above. "We're back where we started."

"Not quite," Mr. Wonka corrected her, "but pretty close. Now, time to land this thing." He scanned the rows upon rows of buttons that lined the elevator's right-side wall, and he pressed a button that was labeled: "DOWN".

"That should do it," he said, breathing a sigh of relief as the Great Glass Elevator slowly drifted towards the ground like a feather. "I'm glad I remembered to press that one and not the 'DOWN AND IN' button right below it."

"What would that button do?" Chris asked.

"It would ram the elevator straight into the ground, making for a very painful landing," Mr. Wonka told him. "I use it when I need to re-enter the factory, if the elevator is outside. When I want to use the Great Glass Elevator to leave the factory, I press the 'UP AND OUT' button, and to get back inside, I'd just line it up with the main tower before pressing 'DOWN AND IN'. Isn't that neat?"

"For sure, yes!" Chris replied while nodding.

The Great Glass Elevator softly touched down, the doors slid open, and the group stepped onto the lush, green grass.

"Once again, I am so proud of you two," Charlie said to Chris and Jenna. "I hope the others will think the same, because even though they didn't win the grand prize, they'll still receive a lifetime supply of our world-famous chocolate, and that should be something to celebrate. Ah, and here comes Antonio!"

An Oompa-Loompa appeared from a nearby doorway, leading Antonio Ricci and his disgruntled father across the meadow. To everyone's surprise and relief, Antonio appeared to be unscathed, except for the fact that his clothes were stained brown, and tiny remnants of peanut brittle clung to his spiky blond hair.

"Welcome back, Antonio!" Mr. Wonka said once the Italian skydiver approached him. "I'm pleased to see that you're okay. Would you mind telling us what happened?"

Antonio shook his head and said, "Not at all. I guess I was just caught up in the moment when I decided to jump off the waterfall. Now that I look back at it, that was the most stupid and reckless decision I have ever made. I broke more than a few bones upon impact, and I was in major pain as I fell down the chute towards the Peanut Brittle Room. An Oompa-Loompa quickly rescued me from the mixer which, thankfully, had been turned off by the time I arrived. I was taken to the Puppy Hospital or whatever that place is called, and they treated me with a special candy that repaired all of my bones, and it cured most of the pain. I still have a mild ache in my left leg, but other than that, I'm fine."

"Excellent!" Mr. Wonka said joyfully as he clasped his hands together. "I just _knew_ that my new candy recipe would work! Thanks to you, Antonio, these new candies will be released next year. They'll revolutionize the healthcare industry." Antonio grinned at him before approaching Chris and Jenna.

"Jenna and Chris," he said while extending his arm slightly forward, "congratulations on winning the grand prize. You both deserved it. Buon lavoro."

"Grazie," Jenna said, curtsying to Antonio. With a playful smile, she added, "Now go take a shower." Antonio smirked at her in response.

"Thank you so much, Antonio," Chris said as they shook hands. "I'm glad you're feeling better." Antonio gave him a thumbs-up before walking back towards his father.

"Omedetō! Congrats!" a female voice exclaimed. The group turned to see Yuna Sayuki standing behind them. She looked completely unchanged from her old self.

"Ah, I see the Vita-Wonk did wonders for this little girl," Mr. Wonka said to the Oompa-Loompa who accompanied Yuna and her mother. "Do you care to tell everyone what happened, Yuna?"

"I remember you telling the Oompa-Loompas to feed me no more than a sixteenth of a teaspoon of that Vita-Wonk stuff," Yuna said accusingly to Mr. Wonka, who nodded, nervous about what she might say next. "Well, this tiny man here fed me an eighth of a teaspoon by accident, and my skin shriveled up like a raisin in one second. You made me become seventy years old, and because I grew so fast, my mother dropped me onto the floor!"

"Well, that was a tiny miscalculation," Chris whispered to Jenna, who turned away from Yuna as she barely managed to stifle a laugh.

"How exactly did the process go?" Charlie asked the tiny worker. The Oompa-Loompa spent the next several seconds telling him the story, in his own language. Once he was done, Charlie cleared his throat and relayed the story to everyone else. "He told me that they had to spend quite a bit of time calculating the exact number of Wonka-Vite pills needed to subtract her age by sixty years. They gave her seven and a half pills, and they cut the last pill in half with a laser. Unfortunately, a tiny piece somehow got through, making her younger by sixty years, one month, and two days." Everyone had looks of bewilderment on their faces, except for Yuna and her mother. Chris cleared his throat and he walked up to Yuna.

"Yuna, I heard from your mother that you celebrated your tenth birthday a month ago," he said, "so that means that in two days, you'll get to celebrate your birthday again! Consider that a bonus." A smile began to form on the Japanese girl's face.

"Thank you," Yuna replied, her tone somewhat shy. "When I get home, I'll make sure to tell all of my friends about my experience at the factory, perhaps during my birthday party. I'm sorry about my outburst from a minute ago."

"There's no need to apologize, Yuna," Antonio told her. "It happens sometimes."

"Thanks, Antonio," Yuna replied, blushing slightly.

"I'm amazed at how good your English is, Yuna," Mr. Wonka said to her. "You must have studied really hard."

"Oh, yes," Yuna said, smiling radiantly. "My mother studied English as well when she was younger." She looked up at her mother, and they embraced each other for several seconds.

A few seconds later, three more figures appeared. A third Oompa-Loompa was accompanied by Mindy Bell and her mother. Mindy's mother calmly walked beside the tiny worker, with a smile on her face. Mindy, on the other hand, was performing cartwheels and somersaults all the way across the meadow, until she reunited with Antonio and Yuna. Her skin color was back to normal, but she was clearly a lot more flexible than before. Despite everything she had been through, she was still happily sucking on her record-breaking Everlasting Gobstopper.

"Mindy!" Charlie cried in happiness. "I see that your gymnastic skills have gone through the roof! The juicing machine must have worked like a charm!"

"It sure did," Mindy said, giving him a thumbs-up. "Now that I'm looking at it in retrospect, it's funny to think about how scared I was when I became a lemon. I thought it would spell the end of me and my passion, but it only helped me in the end! Thank you."

"Well, this is the first time we've had anyone feel proud of their mistakes," Mr. Wonka said, "but hey, mistakes can sometimes help rather than harm, and that's what happened to you. Thanks for coming."

Mindy nodded, and then she walked up to Chris.

"Hey, Chris," Mindy said meekly, "I'm sorry for how I treated you during the tour. Back when we were in this very room, and I told you that you were a loser, I didn't really mean it. I was so obsessed with just seeing myself as a winner that I failed to look past your admiration for Mr. Wonka. You and Jenna are the true winners here. I hope you'll forgive me."

"I forgive you, Mindy," Chris said in a warm tone. "Good luck with your future endeavors."

"Thank you so much, Chris," she replied, giving him a thumbs-up before returning to her mother's side.

"Mindy, you're okay!" an excited voice suddenly cried out, and Mindy turned around to see Daniel Sparkman running towards her. Her face became filled with joy, but it quickly turned to a look of surprise as she and the rest of the group beheld the results of Daniel's demise.

Daniel's head looked like a multi-faceted, polygonal sphere. His eyes were reduced to brown dots, his ears were replaced by flat semicircles that jutted out the sides of his head, and his mouth was a straight, black line, making him look like a 90's era video game character. His fingers were fused together, and his arms and legs were bent at incredibly awkward angles.

"What on earth happened to you?" Mindy asked him with more than a hint of concern.

Daniel looked down at his shoes, which were now just black, pixelated squares, and he took a deep breath.

"Well, it's a long story," he began. "Mr. Wonka and Charlie showed me a new invention of theirs that could literally put you into the middle of any video game or movie, so like virtual reality, but in real life. I decided to try it out, and I ended up inside one of the video games that I designed. It was so realistic that I could see, hear, smell, and feel everything inside the game. Unfortunately, I was struck down by a guard, and I 'died' in the game, turning me into trillions of ones and zeroes in an alternate dimension called the Digital Realm." Mindy gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.

"Oh my gosh, Daniel!" she cried. "That's horrible! How did they free you?"

"Here's where it gets crazy," Daniel answered. "Since I was just a bunch of code in a software program, the Oompa-Loompas had to literally program me out of there. They typed in thousands upon thousands of lines of code in record time, and once they were satisfied with the results, they sent me back through the system that transported me into the game, and I returned to the real world. I nearly cried when I first saw how I looked, but they said I'd return to normal over the course of three weeks."

"Daniel, can you please explain why you held such a grudge against me earlier?" Chris asked. "I mean, it seemed like you hated me for some reason."

"Listen, Chris, I'm sorry for how I acted around you, especially during the latter half of the tour," Daniel apologized. "I knew that Mr. Wonka and Charlie rigged this whole tour in your favor. Plus, you and Jenna kissed each other in the Sour Dragons room, and I felt jealous inside because I never got to confess to Mindy...until now."

"Awww, you're so sweet, Dan!" Mindy said as she hugged him tightly.

"Well, I'm at least glad you finally told the truth," Chris said once Daniel and Mindy let go of each other. "Thanks for doing so."

Before anyone had a chance to speak, a high-pitched laugh echoed throughout the Chocolate Room as Tyler Smith emerged, along with his father and two Oompa-Loompas. He was covered in red, smallpox-like pustules from head to toe, and every so often, he let out a cinnamon-scented fart.

"I'm warning you," Tyler told the Oompa-Loompas who accompanied him, "you can't restrain me for long! I'm well-versed in karate and wrestling!"

"Wow, he sure took an overdose of Spotty Powder," Mindy whispered to Daniel, whose face was turning bright-red with rage upon seeing his foe. His hands were balled into tight fists, and his eyes were firmly locked on to Tyler.

"That immature scumbag got what he deserved," Daniel whispered to Mindy while glaring at his foe. "By the looks of it, though, it doesn't seem like Tyler's through with us just yet. I'd still be careful if I were you."

"I'll stand my guard," Mindy said a little too loudly. Tyler whipped his head around to see that everyone else was staring at him.

"There you are!" Tyler shouted, pointing at the group. "I'll get you all!" The two Oompa-Loompas dashed in front of Tyler in a feeble attempt to stop him from terrorizing the others, but Tyler kicked them both to the ground with one swing of his leg, knocking them out. He pulled a small bomb out of his pocket, and with a grunt, he hurled it straight at the group like a baseball.

"Look out!" Mindy screamed as it soared through the air towards them. She grabbed Daniel's hand, and everyone scattered as far away as they could before the bomb hit the ground. With a loud bang, it exploded on impact, expelling a thick, green cloud of gas and sending shrapnel flying in all directions. Daniel managed to duck just before a piece of shrapnel whizzed right over his head. He turned around to see that the gas was slowly beginning to disperse, and through it, he witnessed Tyler sprinting towards the open doors that led to the Entrance Hall.

"He's getting away!" Daniel shouted, pointing at Tyler. "Mindy, go after him!"

Without so much as a nod, Mindy took off like a rocket, chasing after Tyler as fast as her legs could carry her. She soon caught up to Tyler and attempted to tackle him to the ground like a football player, but he effortlessly knocked her onto her back with a leg sweep.

"You're no match for me, Mindy," Tyler said with his hands on his hips, snickering as Mindy moaned in pain, rolling over onto her chest. He roughly nudged her to the side with his foot before flipping her onto her back. "You think you're a winner, but you're just a pathetic, weak gymnast and a Gobstopper addict. You think I'm immature and that I act on impulse. The truth is, I'm neither. What my dad and everyone else said about me being an idiot was wrong. I'm far stronger than you think, and I've achieved more than you ever will. Those stupid trophies of yours don't mean anything. I'm excellent at lifting weights, I'm the fastest person in my school's track-and-field team, and I have a black belt in karate, which clearly explains why I whipped your ass so easily."

"That's enough, Tyler!" Daniel shouted as he came to Mindy's aid. He carefully helped her to get back on her feet.

"Oh, so now the video game guy wants to join in on the fun," Tyler said before he farted loudly. I'm right here, come and get me!"

"If you insist," Daniel growled as Tyler ran off.

While all of this was going on, Antonio was crawling around a large pile of rock candy pebbles in a secluded area of the Chocolate Room, gathering as many as he could in his hands before stuffing them into his pockets. He also grabbed two Exploding Candies for good measure, and he quietly perched himself at the top of a short cliff to get a better view of the chaos taking place before him. He, along with everyone else, watched in horror as Tyler went on a rampage, destroying as much of the Chocolate Room as he could. Tyler kicked and stomped on candy pumpkins, ripped gummy worms in half, tossed gumdrops into the chocolate river, and threw gigantic lollipops around as if they were frisbees. He walked up to one of the toffee apple trees, and he skillfully used an Exploding Candy to light it on fire, laughing maniacally as the entire tree burned to ashes.

Tyler's father stood with Mr. Wonka and Charlie, and he watched helplessly as his son hurled a Gobstopper at Yuna's head, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

"Does he always act like this?" Charlie asked him.

"Not usually," Mr. Smith answered with a sad expression on his face. "Only when he gets really angry at people. In this case, those people would be you and Charlie, since you two were indirectly at fault for—"

"It said right on the Golden Tickets that we shall not be held accountable for any wrongdoings that might happen during the tour," Mr. Wonka said. "In fact, we actually think you might have had a part to play in this."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Tyler's father asked in a fearful tone, shocked at what Mr. Wonka had said.

"I remember watching Tyler's interview on the news," Mr. Wonka replied. "You didn't seem like you showed any affection for your son. You said quite clearly that you were wiser than your son and that you knew better than him. That's not how anyone should go about being a parent."

"W-what do you mean?" Tyler's father inquired as a mixture of confusion and guilt overcame him. "I...I...I love him, just not in the way you'd think."

"Please, you have to see your son for who he truly is, and not how others see him," Charlie told him. "He's just a kid, and that's what kids do sometimes. Sure, he may be more violent and mischievous than others, but I'm sure that with a mixture of willpower, coaching and time, he'll change for the better and become a fine, young man."

"Not unless he stops hurting others just for fun," Mr. Smith mumbled as Tyler began to slow down, and the boy sat down on the grass, breathing heavily. "Now's my chance. He's finally tired." He took a deep breath before walking up to Tyler, and everyone else began to surround them.

"Son," he said as he knelt down beside Tyler, "please listen to me. I'm sorry for being such a lousy father. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did for the last several years."

"Go away, please," Tyler moaned, elbowing his father in the shoulder. Mr. Smith stood up and took one step backwards, not taking his eyes off Tyler.

"Mr. Wonka and Charlie brought me to the realization that in the end, none of this was your fault," Mr. Smith said, and Tyler finally turned towards him with a small, sad smile. "I had the chance to raise you as a wonderful little boy, but I made the mistake of passing my arrogant attitude down to you, and I really shouldn't have done that. My arrogance was the result of the constant stress I experienced, and still experience, during my job as a professor. I wish I would have just seen you as the kid you were and not a dumbed-down, immature version of my students."

"Go on," Mr. Wonka said quietly, and Mr. Smith took a deep breath.

"Tyler, son, I hope you understand what I'm saying," Mr. Smith continued as Tyler slowly stood up. "There's still room for you to grow. I promise that, from now on, I will not be arrogant towards you anymore, but you have to treat me with the same respect. Got it?" Tyler nodded. "Also, you may continue with your pranks, but you need to recognize that there's a time and place for them. We'll talk about this later, but for now, I'll just say that I forgive you."

"Thank you for your promise, Dad," Tyler whispered, giving his father an awkward hug. "I promise that I'll change as well, and become a better person."

"Are there any words you'd like to say to the rest of us, Tyler?" Mr. Wonka asked as Tyler let go of his father. The boy took a ragged breath and turned to look at everyone else.

"I'm sorry...for everything I've done during the tour," Tyler apologized remorsefully, shedding a single tear which he didn't bother to wipe away. He looked at his father and said, "Let's get out of this freaking place." They promptly began to walk towards the Entrance Hall on their own.

"Wait!" Charlie exclaimed, and Tyler and his father stopped in their tracks. "No one knows exactly what Chris and Jenna won yet." He cleared his throat before continuing to speak. "As I'm sure you recall, it said on the Golden Tickets that one of these children—er, _two_ in this case—shall receive a special prize beyond anything you could ever imagine. However, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering the reason I'm here in the first place. The reason why we held the Golden Ticket contest back in 2005 was so that Mr. Wonka could find an heir to replace him when he passes away. I was—and still am—his heir. However, I had a revelation just a few months ago, while combing my hair one morning. A single strand of silver hair fell out, and because of that one silver hair, I realized that I was getting older, just like Mr. Wonka before me. Who would watch over the factory after we die? That's when it occurred to us: we must find another heir to replace both of us. Of course, I could have always married someone and had kids of my own, but we thought the logical approach would be to host a second Golden Ticket contest, and find an heir that way. So, Chris and Jenna, that only means one thing for the two of you. You shall be our heir and heiress, respectively. Well done."

All of a sudden, two bright, almost blinding spotlights shone upon Chris and Jenna, and confetti rained down from the ceiling. The two preteens stared wide-eyed at each other, and their jaws dropped with excitement, unable to utter a single word.

"You have _got_ to be joking!" Chris' father said in disbelief. "You mean my son and his..." he glanced at Jenna, "new friend...are going to inherit the entire factory?!"

"Yes, for the reasons Charlie had just mentioned," Mr. Wonka said proudly. "However, everyone else will get a special prize as well. The other five winners, as in Antonio, Yuna, Mindy, Daniel, and Tyler, will each receive a lifetime supply of chocolate, and as an added bonus, each and every one of you will be allowed to visit the factory again, any time you like." His statement was met with several cheers and bright smiles, except for Tyler, whose expression remained neutral.

"That's great!" Antonio said with enthusiasm before taking some of the rock candy pebbles from his pocket and dumping them into his mouth. "If you don't mind me asking, are there any other places in your factory where I can _safely_ demonstrate my skydiving skills?"

"Well, there is the Gum Trampoline," Charlie answered, "as well as the Exploding Candy Room. The latter is over a thousand feet tall, so you can skydive all you want there."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Antonio said with a grin, and he gave Charlie a high-five.

"Thank you so much for taking us on this wonderful tour," Mindy's mother said to Mr. Wonka and Charlie. "Will I have the chance to get up close and personal with your Cocoa Cats next time?"

"You may," Mr. Wonka said, "but as I said before, if you want one for yourself, it'll have to be a special order."

"I'm willing to pay whatever you want," she replied. "I promise I'll take good care of it."

Charlie smiled at her. "Well, remember that it's not actually a living thing, even though it may seem lifelike. It's a sentient candy."

"Thanks, anyway," she said before giving him a quick hug.

"Mindy," Mr. Wonka said, "you're welcome to visit the Gobstopper rooms again. The X-tra Sour Gobstopper you had was just a defective one, so you can safely eat the others. As Charlie said to Antonio, you can also check out the Gum Trampoline, as well as our main gymnasium, if you wish to practice and demonstrate your gymnastics."

"Thank you so much," Mindy said with a smile. "I'll keep that in mind for when I come back."

Daniel was the next person to walk up to Charlie and Mr. Wonka.

"I must admit, I actually did enjoy the tour to an extent, even though it probably didn't seem like it to you guys," he said. "Perhaps when you move your virtual reality system to the Recreation Corridor, I can program it so that the system will automatically piece you back together if you die in the game. It will be a mammoth undertaking since humans are highly complex creatures, but I'm sure that I can do it, so that the technology will be completely safe to use."

"Splendid," Mr. Wonka said, clasping his hands together. "I'm looking forward to seeing your efforts for themselves. Don't worry, I forgive you for everything you've done. Good luck with your future endeavors."

"Thank you," Daniel replied before walking away. Tyler and his father were the next to approach the chocolatiers.

"I'm proud that you apologized to everyone," Mr. Wonka said to Tyler, who merely nodded in response. "I hope you'll keep the promise that you made, for your sake and everyone else's."

"For the first time in several years," Tyler's father said to Mr. Wonka and Charlie, "I feel proud about my son. Since he made that promise to me, I'm feeling more confident that he will choose a better path in life. Even though he wasn't behaving as well as he could have, he's never explicitly lied to me before, so I trust him. Plus, as you've come to make me realize, the onus is primarily on me. I am the one to blame for my son's attitude, so I am the only person who can help him to flourish and grow into a responsible young man. Right, Tyler?"

Tyler made a fist and nodded. "Right!"

"Well, thank you both for your confessions," Charlie said to them. "I hope you enjoyed the tour. It's time that I acknowledge the last runner-up who I haven't spoken to yet, and that's you, Yuna!"

Yuna and her mother approached Mr. Wonka and Charlie with glowing smiles on their faces.

"Thank you so much for everything," Yuna said, clasping her hands across her chest. "I would have liked to explore more of the factory, but I had a wonderful time, nonetheless. I actually liked the song the Oompa-Loompas played for me. It was cute."

"Why, thank you!" Mr. Wonka replied, revealing his perfect white teeth as he smiled at her. "I'll make sure to tell the Oompa-Loompas you said that! Oh, and how about your mother? Does she have anything to say?"

"Arigatogogo," Yuna's mother chimed in. Everyone looked at her in confusion, except for Yuna.

"What did she say?" Antonio wondered aloud.

"She just said 'thank you' in Japanese," Yuna replied with a smile.

Antonio shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess I could tell my friends that I learned some Japanese today." Yuna softly chuckled in response.

"I'll look you up online and see if we can exchange contact information," Yuna told him. "I'll be more than happy to teach you about my native language. Then you could watch some anime or play some JRPG's and understand what they're saying!"

"Thanks, Yuna," Antonio said warmly. "I'd love that. How about we exchange info as we leave the factory?"

Yuna nodded. "That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Antonio."

"Well, once again, thank you all for coming," Charlie told everyone, removing his red top hat. "It's been a sincere pleasure conducting this wonderful tour, and as I said, you can all come back whenever you want. The trucks with your lifetime supply of chocolate are waiting outside in the front courtyard. They will drive you back to whichever hotel you stayed at, and then to the airport so you can safely return home. The chocolate will be brought along with the rest of your cargo, so no worries there. Come along, everyone!"

The two chocolatiers led everyone back towards the Entrance Hall, the very place where the tour began several hours ago. This time, the walls were bright-purple, and so was the floor and ceiling. There was also a laser light show on one of the walls, and soft piano music was playing in the background.

As everyone journeyed down the long corridor for the final time, Mr. Wonka and Charlie were talking with Mr. Davidson and Mr. Adams about the plans for moving into the factory. The other adults had their own conversations amongst themselves, and the children spent their time by exchanging contact information with each other.

Eventually, the group reached the main entrance doors, which automatically slid open to reveal the front courtyard. Outside, five, bright-red trucks were waiting for the runner-ups, each filled with their lifetime supply of chocolate.

The first truck had the name "Ricci" spray-painted on the back. Antonio sighed as he proceeded to walk out of the Entrance Hall and into the sunny courtyard. Just as the Riccis began to leave, Yuna quickly ran up to Antonio from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. Antonio turned around to face Yuna for the last time, only to see that her violet eyes were glistening with tears.

"Yuna, please don't cry," Antonio softly whispered to her. "We'll see each other again soon. Besides, you said you'd teach me your language, so you'll get to hear my voice again."

"I know," she said, "but still, I wish I'd have known you a little more during the tour. I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you until it was all over. I hope you had a wonderful time, and I wish you a safe flight home."

"Same to you, Yuna," the Italian skydiver replied. Yuna gave him a quick hug, and just a few minutes later, Antonio and his father were on their way to their hotel.

Yuna and her mother were the next to leave, followed by Tyler and his father, who left without saying a single word. The next truck had the name "Bell" on the back, and Mindy's mother began walking towards the truck on her own.

"Well, Mindy, it was very nice getting to know you," Daniel said to Mindy. "I hope we'll get to meet each other soon, but until then—" he quickly kissed her. "Feel free to call me anytime."

"Will do, Dan," Mindy said, blushing ever so slightly. "Hopefully you'll return to your human form soon."

"As I said before, it'll take about three weeks," Daniel reassured her. "Once it's over, I'll be back to my old—"

"Mindy! It's time to go!" her mother shouted from inside the truck.

"Coming, Mom!" Mindy yelled back. "Good bye, Daniel." She quickly turned to acknowledge Chris and Jenna. "Good bye. I'm proud of you both." And with that, she sprinted out the door, somersaulted down the front steps, and got into the truck.

Only one more truck remained, and it had the name "Sparkman" on the back.

"That's us," Daniel said to his father.

"Thanks again, for everything," Mr. Sparkman said to Charlie and Mr. Wonka. "I'll admit, I enjoyed the tour a lot more than I thought I would. Sorry if my son and I caused a little bit of drama along the way."

"Hey, a bit of drama can be a good thing," Charlie replied, smiling at him. "If there was no drama in the world, it would be quite a boring place now, wouldn't it? Anyway, I hope you have a safe journey home. It was a pleasure having you two here." He shook Daniel's hand, and Mr. Wonka shook Mr. Sparkman's hand before they got into their truck.

Just after the Sparkmans left, a purple stretch limousine pulled up to the entrance of the factory. Chris' jaw nearly fell to the floor at the sight of the luxurious vehicle.

"Wow, is that for us?" he asked in astonishment.

"It most certainly is!" Mr. Wonka enthusiastically replied. "It will take you back to your hotel, and then to the airport so that you guys can reunite with your families back home, and from there on, you can just fly back here with your possessions and move right in!"

"That's wonderful, but where's our lifetime supply of chocolate?" Jenna's father inquired, noticing that there weren't any trucks with their names on them.

"Your lifetime supply is right here, in the factory itself," Mr. Wonka answered. "Once again, congratulations to Chris and Jenna. I'm so proud of you both. You deserve it."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Wonka," Chris said, and Mr. Wonka shook his hand so profusely that it felt like it would come off. "I feel so honored to have experienced this tour. It was everything I expected it to be, and a whole lot more. Plus, I wouldn't have met my new best friend otherwise."

"You're too kind, Chris," Jenna replied. Suddenly, she gasped as she realized something. "Mr. Wonka! I'm just curious, why didn't the Oompa-Loompas play the song for Chris? I mean, they played songs for everyone except for him. I know that because I saw the list of songs in the Music Conservatory."

"They weren't exactly anticipating that both you and Chris would win," Charlie said. "Why would they play a song all about Chris being the sole champion if you're a champion as well? That wouldn't make much sense now, would it?"

"I see," Jenna said. "I was just wondering. No worries."

"Well, that marks the official end of the tour," Mr. Wonka announced as the group emerged into the sunlight, stopping in front of the limo. Two Oompa-Loompa chauffeurs got out and opened the rear doors for the winners to enter. "I'll be seeing you back here very soon, along with the rest of your families."

"What about everyone I'll be leaving behind?" Chris asked with a hint of concern. "My teachers? My other friends at school? My relatives? I mean, they'll miss me an awful lot, won't they?"

"Well, that's what happens when you move elsewhere," Charlie told him. "Of course, you can always call them, and visit them back home as well. It's not like you'll be stuck in the factory for the rest of your life. You may leave every once in a while. It's like a vacation, you know."

"I guess," Chris said while nodding. "I hope they'll be able to visit us at the factory as well. Is that okay?"

"Sure it is," Charlie told him. "It'll have to be a special invitation, though, since we can't allow the general public to visit the factory, for obvious reasons. But provided you invite them and they accept, by all means." He then acknowledged the adults. "Mr. Davidson and Mr. Adams, it was a pleasure having you both here. I'm glad you all enjoyed it, and of course, I'll see you back here soon."

Charlie and Mr. Wonka watched them as they carefully stepped into the limousine. Chris and Jenna waved goodbye to the chocolatiers through the window as the limo slowly began to pull out of the courtyard. Once it drove out of sight, both top-hatted men vanished into the factory like melted chocolate being sucked up from the river.

"I never thought I'd say this," Charlie admitted, his voice echoing all around the Entrance Hall, "but the factory feels so... _empty_ all of a sudden, even with the Oompa-Loompas working here."

"Well, there are fourteen less people in the factory than there were before," Mr. Wonka said to his heir. "They'll visit us again sooner or later, don't you worry. Besides, Jenna's and Chris' families will be moving in as well, so we'll have plenty of company. I still can't help but think of how I used to despise the whole idea of families in general. I've come a long way, all because of your family's kindness and caring nature. I know that Jenna's family would get along with the Oompa-Loompas, and everyone in Chris' family is a loyal fan of our company, so I can see the future being very bright, and most importantly, very sweet. I know you'll be a wonderful mentor for both Chris and Jenna."

"What about you, though?" Charlie asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "You're not leaving, are you? Aren't you going to mentor them as well?"

"I'm staying here, Charlie," Mr. Wonka reassured him, "but you can't deny the fact that I'm very old. I'll be more than happy to assist Chris and Jenna, but you must understand that sooner or later, I'll pass away. That's the whole point of finding an heir, so that someone can continue what you started after you're gone. You're older than I was when I met you, so it turned out to be a wise choice on my part to host this second Golden Ticket contest."

"And I have no regrets with helping you run it," Charlie said with a twinkle in his olive-green eyes. "Now let's get down to business and prepare the factory for the Davidson and Adams families to move in. After all, Chris and Jenna are next in line."

 **Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this extra-long chapter! Did you have a favorite part? If so, feel free to tell me in your review! There will be an epilogue next, and then it will finally be the end of this story, so stay tuned for that! :D**

 **The Gum Trampoline that was mentioned in this chapter was originally featured in Chapter 22 of "Where All the Bad Nuts Go" (also written by me). Credit goes to Squirrela for coming up with it in the first place. :)**


	25. Epilogue

Epilogue

 **Author's note: Hi, readers! This is it, everyone, the true finale of Next in Line! I replied to most of your reviews via PM for the sake of making the author's note shorter, so I'll just reply to my guest reviewers here.**

 **XXCandyLoverXX, I understand and appreciate the criticism, but I actually based Tyler's sudden outburst on a bully at my elementary school, who would often get angry at people without warning and seemingly for no reason.**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993, I do take requests, but I have a few other stories I'm working on right now, so once I'm done with those, I'll consider your idea that you suggested in a review of my parody.**

 **Guest, that's exactly who I based Daniel's appearance on! I haven't played Brain Age 2 in a while, so maybe I should start playing it again.**

 **Guest 2, the epilogue is finally here!**

 **Guest 3, Mike was originally going to be Daniel's father, but in the final version of this story, they are completely unrelated. Now, on with the epilogue!**

 **(Note: credit goes to Gs33022 and MysteriousMaker1185 for helping me edit the epilogue.)**

So what became of everyone since the tour, you might ask? Well, let me tell you.

Antonio Ricci continued to pursue his passion of skydiving long after the tour, and he eventually became a professional wingsuit jumper, as well as a stunt pilot. He achieved worldwide fame, but he never let it get to his head. He learned his lesson to not be so reckless and heedless, and he never once got into a skydiving accident since his incident during the tour. He stayed in touch with Yuna, and he even made a few trips to Japan to visit her personally, much to her pleasure.

During Yuna Sayuki's next visit to the factory, she was offered a microscopic amount of Vita-Wonk to restore her original age, but she chose to decline it since she was fine with staying a month younger than she originally was. True to her childhood dream, she became a model when she reached adulthood, appearing on the covers of magazines all over Japan. She learned to be less insecure of herself, and became very healthy and happy as a result. Just like her childhood self, she gave away lots of her money to the poor, as well as to hospitals, scientific research, and retirement centers to help the sick and the elderly.

Mindy Bell decided to end her Everlasting Gobstopper record on her twelfth birthday, feeling like a decade was enough for her. She learned to be more humble and less overcompetetive, and she decided to donate some of her trophies to charity. She used her extreme flexibility to the fullest throughout her adolescence and adulthood, becoming a professional gymnast and a contortionist. She even won a few medals in the Olympic Games for her gymnastic abilities. Despite those accomplishments, she still considered her Golden Ticket to be her best prize, due to how much it changed her life. And yes, she still loved to have Everlasting Gobstoppers every once in a while as a treat.

Daniel Sparkman decided to be less dull and arrogant once he arrived back home from the tour, and he used his intelligence for more constructive purposes. True to the Oompa-Loompas' word, the aftereffects of his demise completely vanished in exactly three weeks after the tour. After graduating from college, he worked in cybersecurity and ethical hacking before starting his own video game company, which he named Sparkman Studios. He still took part in video game tournaments and programming competitions, but he decided not to make it a major part of his life as it was before. Like Antonio, Daniel occasionally flew to Arizona to meet Mindy personally. In return, Mindy contributed ideas to Daniel for future video games, much to the pleasure of the both of them.

Tyler Smith became a lot friendlier and more mature over the next few years. He asked Charlie and Mr. Wonka to forgive him for his actions, which they did without any hesitation. In Tyler's spare time, he submitted ideas for new prank candies to Charlie, who made sure to give him credit once they were sold. Tyler's father turned over a new leaf as well. He became less strict towards his son, giving him the guidance and love that any child deserved. This motivated Tyler to succeed in his academics during his adolescence, and he won scholarships to some of Canada's most prestigious universities. He opted to study at the University of Calgary so that he could stay in touch with his family. When Tyler graduated from university, he started a business which sold prank items, but they focused on humor rather than pain. It proved to be incredibly popular with children, as well as teens and adults who were young at heart.

Chris Davidson and Jenna Adams helped Charlie and Mr. Wonka run the factory together for the next several years. Their new candies, which received rave reviews from customers and the media, boosted the company's sales exponentially. Charlie decided to step down from his position as CEO soon after, and he and Willy continued to mentor Chris and Jenna after they became the co-CEOs of the business. Chris and Jenna continued to get along well, and they remained in a committed relationship.

As for Chris, he spent a good portion of his time outside of the factory, interacting with the community and helping those in need. He took suggestions from other people, including the other Golden Ticket winners. Jenna chose to split her time between running the factory and keeping her position as Wormhole Citadel's bassist. The band received a lot more recognition after the tour, and Jenna's passion for music, as well as her newfound fame, helped it grow even more. They released a few albums over the years, and toured the world on multiple occasions.

In the end, Chris and Jenna won ownership to the chocolate factory, and Charlie and Mr. Wonka won two splendid children to pass the factory's legacy onto, but everyone who participated in the tour won something of their own: valuable life lessons, advice for the future, as well as opportunities to pursue their passions and dreams and expand them into something much greater. For everybody, who were all truly next in line to the factory, one thing was absolutely certain: life had never been sweeter.

 **Author's note: And this story is FINALLY over! I hope you all enjoyed it for what it was. Of course, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed it from the bottom of my heart, since you all provided such valuable input and constructive criticism. I even have to thank the guests who wrote some of the joke reviews, because Sonny April's fantastic oneshot, "Willy Wonka Eats a Kit Kat", wouldn't have existed otherwise! (If you haven't read that one yet, please do so now, because it's hilarious.)**

 **As for what's next, I'll continue working on "Chuck and the Cocoa Bean Processing Facility", which is a parody of the 2005 movie that I started a while ago. I'll be updating that one much more frequently from now on. Once that's done, I'll resume working on "A Salty Reunion" as well as my Jumanji fic, "A Wooden Box of Chaos". I'm also thinking of publishing some unused Ticket winners and demises that I was originally going to include in this story, in a side project called "Next in Line: Secrets from the Vault".**

 **I want to thank Sonny April and dragonserpent18 for writing "A Second Chance", which is what inspired me to write this story. On the other hand, I also must give a shout out to those who published their own "second generation" stories. In no particular order, my favorites are "A Box of Chocolates" by MysteriousMaker1185, "Charlie's Chocolatey Adventure" by Gs33022, "New Faces" by dragonserpent18, and "Second time round" by TheIndividualist. Once again, thank you so much for reading, and I'll be back very soon! :)**

 **(Note: from this point on, all reviews will be responded to via Private Messaging. As for my guest reviewers, I can assure you that I took my time to read them.)**


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